Search Results

Interest earning checking accounts are great for paying bills. They do not have transaction limits (like savings accounts) and can be used to earn a little while you wait for payments to clear. Below is a list of interest earning checking accounts in Boston. First Priority Credit Union | 2.50% Taupa Lithuania Federal Credit Union | 0.10% - 0.20% Members Plus Credit Union | 0.10% Needham Bank | 0.05% Energy Credit Union | 0.05% Cabot Boston Credit Union | 0.05% American Eagle Federal Credit Union | 0.05% Mass Bay Credit Union | 0.03% Berkshire Bank | 0.02% - 0.10% Eagle Bank | 0.02% TD Bank | 0.01% Boston Firefighters Credit Union | 0.01% Eastern Bank | 0.01% Wells Fargo | 0.01% Rates are accurate as of May 2024, but can change at anytime. Please check with each institution for the most updated rates. Does Boston Offer High Yield Checking Accounts? According to our research, rates in Boston range from 0.01% to 2.50%. If you want to go beyond the city, there are some online accounts that offer even higher earnings. For example, Presidential Bank, has a 4.62% checking account. What Is The Difference Between a High Yield Checking Account and An Interest Earning Checking Account? A high yield checking account typically offers a higher interest rate compared to a traditional interest earning checking account.  This means that with a high yield checking account, you have the opportunity to earn more with what you have. However, high yield checking accounts often come with certain requirements such as maintaining a minimum balance or making a certain number of transactions each month. On the other hand, an interest earning checking account usually offers a lower interest rate but may have fewer requirements. Feel free to compare the benefits of each account to determine which one meets your specific needs. Below is an example of a two sample banks. Bank 1 earns a higher rate, but also requires a higher minimum balance to avoid fees. Bank 2 has a lower rate, but doesn't require any minimum balance. How Much Should You Keep In An Interest Earning Checking Account? We think keeping the bare minimum (around 1 month of expenses) is plenty.

Grocery delivery memberships range from $60 to $200+ a year in Boston. Below are some of the services available in the city -- by price. Prices may change at any time. Last updated 3/25/24 Are There Grocery Delivery Services That Do Not Require Memberships? Yes! If you're not a regular shopper, or simply aren't interested in the perks that come with being a member, the following companies offer the ability to pay per order. UberEats Task Rabbit Roche Brothers Stop & Shop (previously PeaPod) Walmart Are Grocery Delivery Services More Expensive Than In-Store Shopping? Sometimes. Shipt says its customers spend $5 more on a $35 delivery. According to Shipt the added cost covers "picking, packing, and processing." For example, "a loaf of [bread] costs $2.29 in the store and $2.59 to have it delivered." Can You Set Up Weekly Recurring Groceries? Yes! Having a recurring schedule of groceries can help you manage your in-home inventory. For example, if you regularly run out of tea, you can add it to your recurring order at the frequency you need. This serves as a modern-day shopping list. Shipt calls it "Weekly Delivery, Thrive calls it "Autoship," and Amazon calls it "Repeat Items" and "Subscribe and Save." Why Are There Order Minimums? Grocery delivery requires many moving parts. To support the cost of this operation, most grocery delivery services require an order minimum. This means the smallest digital cart for the service to deliver to your home. This prevents the services from using a ton of resources to deliver one item, like a $7 jug of orange juice. Other stores say it's more eco-friendly to have full orders on trips, versus one-off items. How Much Time Does Grocery Delivery Save? According to Mercato, they predict their customers save 100 hours per year. Here's the breakdown: 30 minutes traveling 5 minutes parking 43 minutes shopping 5 minutes for checkout 1.4 weekly trips What Are The Downsides of Grocery Delivery? The shoppers may not pick the best foods. For example, when you shop for fruits and veggies, you are browsing through the selection to find the best ones. Whereas a shopper may not care about bruised bananas, or a little mold on a jalapeño pepper. We've also received dented cans, barely filled sandwiches, and items that just seemed too close to their expiration date. A good delivery service will allow you to give feedback and even get a refund for damaged or subpar items. Finally sometimes items are available in-store, but aren't available online. For example, we love a good salad bar, but you're not able to order a custom salad through grocery delivery. Also we've seen pancake mix in-store, but it wasn't available online. Is Grocery Delivery Worth It? It's super helpful for certain life situations. As a mom with small children the 10% - 20% increase on our grocery bill is minuscule compared to the extra hand it brings to our family.

It depends on what you buy. Below we compare bananas, milk, and chicken across nine different stores in the city. It shows that Whole Foods has one of the least expensive bananas, Trader Joe's doesn't seem to sell chicken wings, and Star Market and Foodie's sell the most expensive milk. 🍌 Some stores only sell bunches instead of single bananas. Bunches typically range from 4-6 bananas and are outlined in the product description. We took the bunch price and divided it by the highest amount of bananas in the bunch to get the lowest price per banana. 🥛 Milk price is for 1 gallon of whole milk from the store brand. 🐓 Price is for chicken wings per pound (from the store brand). Please know some stores sell the same brand. For example, Whole Food's and Roche Brothers sell Bell & Evans chicken, which is less expensive than their store brands. Star Market and Shaw's are both owned by Albertsons, so their store band (Signature Farms) is often priced the same and sold at both stores. 🛒 Some stores do not display prices online, such as Tropical Foods and Daily Table. Stores like Market Basket, Cotsco, BJ's, Wegman's, and Walmart, may have cheaper prices, but weren't included because they are outside of the city. And for the stores that we did include, their online prices may be higher than the in-store prices for the same product. 🌱 Whole Foods is considered one of the most expensive grocery stores. So we highlighted it to make it easier to compare to other brands. In our home, we used to shop at different stores to get everything off of our list. For example, we used to buy our plantains at Tropical Foods, it's a local supermarket that sells hard-to-find Caribbean and African foods. We also loved buying bulk nuts from Trader Joe's. They were delicious, raw, and had an excellent price. Finally, Cotsco (which is a small drive outside of Boston) has the best toilet paper. It's thick, soft, and also comes at an unbeatable price. As our family grew, driving to different stores wasn't fun anymore. We ended up using grocery delivery, and saw our grocery spending almost double. We believe this is partly due to naturally rising costs over the years due to inflation. According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), Suffolk county families (which includes Boston) spent an average of $1,156.33 on groceries a month in 2023. Here's the breakdown: p=parent, c=child; food spend per month These numbers would probably be different depending on the ages of the children (and their appetite). EPI assumes that children ranged from 4 to 16 years old. They also utilized the "low-cost plan" from the USDA (US Department of Agriculture), "which assumes that almost all food is bought at a grocery store and then prepared at home." In other words, these families don't eat out. In regards to family size, EPI included a single person with no children as a family, but we didn't include them (sorry!). We also realized that toiletries may not be considered a part of a grocery budget, even though they are often sold at grocery stores. Now that you have a better understanding of what is (and is not included in this data), do you think these numbers accurately represent your family's food budget? Until next time... Love The Journey,

Nowadays you can find savings accounts with rates as high as 5% and 6%. However, some banks seem happy with their rates exactly where they are. Below are the savings accounts we noticed with super low rates. Bank of America | 0.01% - 0.04% Chase | 0.01% Citizens | 0.01% Eastern Bank | 0.01% M&T Bank | 0.01% Rockland Trust | 0.01% TD Bank | 0.01% - 4.00% Wells Fargo | 0.01% You're probably thinking, rates can't matter that much. Below shows the difference between an account earning 0.01% and an account earning 4%. With 0.01%, it would take 5 years to earn $1.00 from a $2,000 savings account. This is only if interest is compounded daily. Comparatively, at a bank that offers 4%, your $2,000 would earn close to $100 in the same year. This is without adding any more money to it. It's very easy to see why switching banks (or accounts) can make a huge difference in your yearly earnings. If you find your bank on this list - don't worry. There's probably a good reason for choosing them. But if you're open to shopping around - here are some of the highest rates we found on savings accounts. Until next time... Love The Journey,

Can you guess which credit union has more locations in Boston? If you're thinking City of Boston -- you're right! With 16 combined branches and ATMs in the city, it's more physically accessible than Metro Credit Union. However, Metro has locations as far as Framingham and Lawrence, so its membership is much larger. The following chart shows just how different the two credit unions are (in regards to size). Source: NCUA as of December 31, 2023 Who Offers Better Rates? Metro Credit Union offers higher rates on their CDs and savings accounts. However, Metro Credit Union also has more rules and fees. For example, in order to earn the highest rate on their savings account, the deposit must be at least $10,000 of new money. Metro also has a funky rule with their main share and other accounts. They charge $2-$25 per account, per month for low balances. *APYs as of May 4, 2024. Check Metro or DCU for current rates. How Does Membership Between The Two Differ? Both credit unions require a $5.00 membership share. City of Boston Credit Union is limited to those that live, work, or go to school in Massachusetts (plus their family members). Metro Credit Union serves members in Massachusetts and New Hampshire (plus family members). When it comes to banking, we don't think you need to pick one. If you live in Boston, you're probably eligible for both. Mixing and matching accounts can be a smart strategy, but we also want you to know that there are more than two options. Here is a growing list of credit unions in the city. We hope it helps you pick the best one for your needs.

Metro Credit Union (Metro) has over 200,000 members, making it one of the largest credit unions in the city. But how does it compare to largest credit union in the state? Digital Federal Credit Union (DCU) has been gaining more popularity and is known as the largest credit union in Massachusetts. It has over $12 billion in assets and 1.1 million members as of January 2024. Source: NCUA as of December 31, 2023 The above chart shows that DCU manages almost 4x what Metro does and has over 5x the membership. Who Offers Better Rates? DCU takes the lead with an interest earning checking account (Metro Credit Union doesn't have one yet). DCU also offers higher rates for their savings accounts compared to Metro. Finally, DCU not only offers higher earning CDs, but interest is compounded daily instead of monthly. *APYs as of March 20, 2024. Check Metro or DCU for current rates. Can a Boston Resident Join DCU? While DCU has a healthy membership criteria list, being a Boston resident isn't on it. Instead, you'll have to be... related to a DCU member work for, be retired from, or be related to an employee or retiree at a DCU participating employer (don't worry -- there are over 800 on the list) belong to, join, or be a family member of someone at a DCU partner organization live, work, worship or go to school in a DCU participating community To summarize, if you live in Boston and really want to join DCU, you can join one of the organizations on their membership list, like OARS in Concord, MA. Does DCU Have a Boston Branch? No. While there are 19 locations in the state. The closest one to Boston is in Waltham, MA. Why Is DCU So Popular In Boston? We think DCU raised to fame with the 6.17% rate on their savings account. There are very few online banks that offer that rate, but no other institutions (that we know of) in the state that do. The catch is DCU's 6.17% is only on the first $1,000. If you have more in your savings, the rate drops to a whopping 0.15%. Say you have $2,000 in your account. You're only earning 3.16% on the entire balance. The more savings you have, the more that number drops. If you were planning to only keep $1,000 in the account, and store the rest of your money elsewhere -- you're looking at earning a little over $60 for the year. Of course, high rates aren't the only reason to choose a bank. Finding an institution that's honest, secure, and convenient are also important. We hope we helped clarify the difference between Metro and DCU, as well as helped you figure out if they're a right fit for you.

One Robux can range from $0.01 to $0.001 USD depending on which plan you choose. If you have no idea what Robux are, they're the virtual currency used in Roblox. Robloxians can use Robux to personalize their avatars, unlock special abilities, and even create their own games within the Roblox community. The more Robux one buys, the less it will cost. For example, if you buy 40 Robux, that will cost a penny per Robux. If you buy 22,500 Robux, each Robux will cost a fraction of a cent. Below is a breakdown: Robux Packages Robux packages are one-time purchases for an immediate balance boost. There are currently eight plans. *The two Robux packages that can be purchased for less than a dollar are only available on mobile. We were unable to find these plans on tablet or desktop. Robux Subscription Plans Premium subscription plans are billed monthly until cancelled. There are currently three plans. *According to Roblox, the $9.99 plan is more popular on desktop, but the $4.99 is more popular on mobile. The $199 Looks Like The Best Deal, What Are The Benefits Of A Subscription? Buying 22,500 Robux at $199 is a great deal, because it equates to more Robux for less. It can be the perfect gift that provides a quick boost to any Roblox account. However, there are benefits to the subscription model, including being able to practice money management skills. With so many cool items and experiences to buy on Roblox, a Robux balance can dwindle fast. Receiving small increments over time can help kids practice delayed gratification and learn how to save. Premium subscription plans also have other benefits such as being able to start a group, trade Robux on a stock market-like platform, and other cool and exclusive perks. Can Robux Be Earned? Yes! Paying for Robux isn't the only way to get them. Robux can also be earned by selling digital clothes, charging access fees, using immersive ads, creating passes, and more.

The main difference between our curly and straight hair routine is how we use conditioner. For straight hair, we need the strands to be as light as possible. This means we wash out our conditioner after shampooing. For our curly hair routines, we leave most of the conditioner in our hair and apply a little more during the styling process. Another important difference is when the styling is done. For our curly routines, the hair is styled wet, but for our straight hair -- we style it after it has dried. Which Routine Requires More Product? Curly hair requires way more conditioner. For straight hair, our main product is a small amount of shampoo. Which Routine Takes Longer? Our straight hair takes longer. We naturally have tight curls. Straightening our hair is a multi-day process. Meaning -- we wait a couple of hours before straightening our hair after washing it. This is our way of making sure we do not damage our curls with too much heat. How Is Your Curly Hair Routine The Same As Your Straight Hair Routine? We air-dry for both. Blow drying or diffusing is an extra step we rarely do (I’m talking once every 2 years). Instead we opt for allowing our hair to naturally air dry. For straight styles, I’ll wash the hair and allow it to air-dry overnight in a braid. The next day our hair is soft, stretched, and ready to be straightened. Do You Use Different Products For Your Curly Hair vs. Your Straight Hair? Yes! For our curls, we use any shampoo, but have to use this conditioner. And when we straighten our hair, we use this shampoo and conditioner.

It depends. SheaMoisture has 22 hair collections as of 2024. Six of them (29%) are designed for straight hair. They include... 100% Virgin Coconut Oil African Black Soap Bamboo Charcoal SugarCane and MeadowFoam Hemp Seed Oil Purple Rice Water Apple Cider Vinegar What Is The Difference Between SheaMoisture's Straight Hair Lines & Curly Hair Lines? All of SheaMoisture products are designed for curly hair. For example, if you love daily wash-n-gos, many of the shampoos in the straight hair lines are meant for gentle (but clarifying) washes. However, the straight hair lines are also meant to address the specific needs of straight-haired people. This includes... silicone-free products, a dandruff-fighting system, oil absorbing cleansers natural ingredients that strengthen the hair, and natural ingredients that optimize hair health Are The Straight Hair Lines Good For Curly Girls That Want To Wear Their Hair Straight? SheaMoisture products are super heavy (in my opinion). This is probably because the main ingredient tends to be oils and/or shea butter. As a result the hair doesn't have the squeaky clean feel after washing no matter how little product we use. Instead the hair feels slightly weighed down. Having a stripped foundation (in my opinion) is super important to making sure the straightened hair is light and moves freely. I'm writing this as a naturally curly-haired person. There are plenty of reviews online with completely different experiences. So we looked for a recent review from a naturally straight-haired person. On August 21, 2023, one Amazon customer wrote: "So I am actually using both the shampoo and conditioner, and so far, these products seem to be helping my issue. I randomly got this very, VERY dry flaky spot on the upper part of one of my sideburns maybe the size of a dollar coin. I truly had (and still have) no idea what it was or if it was even related to dandruff, but decided to try a couple of anti-dandruff shampoos (i.e. Head & Shoulders, and Selsun Blue) which both failed. Then I found this product along with the conditioner, and decided to try it out. At the time of writing this, tomorrow will be a week using these products together and already I am seeing GREAT improvement; the flakes have significantly decreased to where none actually fall when I scratch (which most definitely was not the case for weeks) and the itchiness also is ~95% better. Additionally, I have noticed a great feel to my hair (I have thick, straight, course hair for anyone interested in knowing), and while I do keep it short most of the time, it grows fast so I can still feel the difference. It seems softer and definitely feels clean. Lastly, my biggest worry was the apple cider vinegar considering I HATE the smell of vinegar, but it is actually very mild, and overall the scent is nice. So to anyone also considering that, this definitely does not have a vinegar scent to it. I definitely recommend, even to those not suffering with dandruff; The ingredients seem pretty good and it is helping my hair, not just my scalp." In conclusion, we find SheaMoisture products to be too heavy for straight styles, but there are straight-haired customers who absolutely love them. We're wishing you luck in finding the product (or line) that works best for you. Until next time... Love The Journey,

A water perm converts naturally straight hair to curly using water and hair rollers. Despite having the word “perm” in it, it’s not a permanent process. A water perm is temporary. It lasts as long as the wearer refrains from washing their hair. This could be for a day or a week. Some choose a water perm if they are avoiding chemicals. For example, during pregnancy a straight-haired person may choose a water perm to switch up their look. Benefits of Water Perms Temporary No chemicals Less (or no) heat Switch up look Quick tips for your next water perm… Install rollers on damp freshly washed hair Use smaller rods or rollers for tighter curls, and bigger rods or rollers for bigger curls Use flexible rods or curlers with clips to avoid unwanted creases in hair Fully dry hair for a clean frizz-free look Use hair bonnet to preserve curls longer than a day How is A Water Perm Different From A Roller Set? A roller set is super similar to a water perm, because the wearer starts with wet hair and uses rollers/rods. The difference is that roller sets are used for people with naturally curly hair who want to change the shape, tightness, or uniformity of their curl. Curly-haired people naturally can have different curl patterns throughout their hair. But if they want to achieve spiral curls all over, they can use spiral rods or rollers (as an example). Similar to the water perm, they must use the rods/rollers when the hair is wet and wait until the hair is completely dry before removing them. Mentioned Products Rollers with Pins Hair Bonnet