Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to cost a fortune with an expensive dinners, gifts and flowers. There are alternatives to celebrate and have fun too.
Clarke Howard shares this article on 
. 14 Ways To Save on Valentine’s Day
Upcoming Workshops
Winter is here and spring is coming soon, so it’s never to early to make plans. I wanted to share with you some upcoming workshops I am doing:
Norwalk Community College:
Welcome To The Real World: Teens and Money – Saturday, March 2, 2019 from 10 am to 12pm
Personal Financial Coaching – Tuesday, March 12, 2019 from 6 to 8pm
Saving Money with Good Credit – Monday, March 25, 2019 from 6 to 8pm
Greenwich Library:
Take Control of Your Finances – Tuesday, April 1, 2019 from 6:30 to 8pm
For more information and for details on how to register click here.
Finances and Money
Finance and money is more than paying your bills on time. Yes, this is extremely important – paying bills late may effect your credit and can cost you money with late fees / finance charges. But there is more getting your finances organized. Do you have the money to pay your bills each and every month? You will want to have money for today and for the future. Do you have goals you want to achieve?
There are many ways to deal with your finances and money and you have to find the plan that works for you.
The major parts of finances and money:
Determine your goals – what do you want in life? Maybe a short term goal is having your month last all the way to the end of the month, or to be able to pay all bills in fulls each and every month. What about long term goals? H
ow about saving for …. (insert goal such as paying for college, a car, home, vacation) all the way to financial independence.
Action plan – how are you going to achieve your goals? Break this down into action steps, using the smart goal formula. What is the first step you need to do to start down this financial road? Maybe it’s starting to save … (insert amount every pay period).
Budgeting – now’s the time to put your money on the table. How much money do you need to achieve your goals? Start by tracking your net income and your expenses (every penny) to see where you stand. Don’t think your have money to save, then you need to make changes to reduce your expenses and/or increase your income. Remember that making a budget is not a one time thing, your are making a budget, review and sticking to it.
Savings money – break it down into manageable amounts and be realistic. Your not going to be able to save $1,000 in a month, but your could start out by planning to save $20 or more per paycheck. Automating your saving is the easiest and best way to stick with this goal – paying yourself first before you paying anything else.
Paying down debt – we all know that the finance / interest charges are the enemy of your budget. This is money that could be used in other ways. Don’t stick you head in the sand, we have all been there at one point or another. Make a plan to payoff your debt – avalanche or snowball methods are way to start.
Take some time and take a look at your finances and start to deal with your finances and money to get on a path to achieve your goals.
This is very simplified and not all plans work for everyone. Take the time to modify or find a plan that works for you and your finances.
If you want more information, please visit my website for my upcoming workshops.
Take Your Child To The Library Day
As a kid, I loved the library. I still use our library for more than just books. Yes, I love to read, so I read both physical books and e-books. But there is so much more than books.
These are just a few of the things we use at our local library:
- Friday night movies
- Watching movies at home for free (Hoopla)
- Taking workshops on a variety of subjects
- Reading magazines online (no purchase / subscriptions necessary)
- Day passes to attractions, such as the zoo, aquarium, nature center and more.
All this with our library card. And all for free so we save money.
This Saturday, February 4 is Take Your Child To The Library Day! Check out your local library as see what they offer both on this special day and throughout the year.
Let Tax Season Begin!
Yes, it’s that time of year again – tax time! YOu can begin filing your tax returns today. If money is tight, you may be hoping for a refund. But, like many people, you probably have to use part of your refund to pay for having your taxes done.
But, what if you didn’t have to pay a tax preparer? If you have a simple tax return, and you earned less than there limits, you can qualify for FREE tax preparation. The IRS has free filings for income under $66,000, while VITA (more on VITA below) limit is $54,000. Or, check out AARP Foundation Tax-Aide, which has different guidelines by state.
These are the three safest and most reliable options for no-cost income tax preparation (that I know of.)
I know there are some other companies that promise free preparation, but watch for these restrictions:
- Do they offer to do your federal return for free, but charge you for the state return?
- Do they restrict your appointment to the first two weeks of February? (I’m really organized, but even I have to wait for W-2’s and 1099’s, etc.)
With the IRS, VITA and AARP, you don’t have to rush and they do both Federal and State (if local rules allow).
Find out if you qualify for VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance)
Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) has volunteers trained by the IRS to do tax preparation for people who are low to moderate income (families earning less than $50,000.) There are locations in every state, typically at public buildings (like libraries, schools, or town government offices). All have different days and hours. Find the location that meets your schedule by visiting the IRS website.
Find out if you qualify for AARP Foundation Tax-Aide
AARP also offers tax preparation services under their program AARP Foundation Tax-Aide. The program gives special attention to those over 60 years of age. There are eligibility requirements that must be met to take advantage of this service. For more information go to AARP.org
These programs are both designed for those with relatively simple tax returns. People who have more complicated returns that include rental property, buying and selling of investments, or businesses are usually not eligible. Check with each organization for locations and eligibility requirements.
Remember: this year April 15 falls on a Monday and that may be a Federal holiday depending on where you live, so you may have an extra days to file your taxes!
The Importance of An Emergency Fund
I am rerunning a post from 2016 that has been really relevant to us so far this year (and the last week of last year too). We had three events between the holidays and now, that we are so grateful for our emergency fund. It saved us again!
We woke up on a Sunday morning to no heat or hot water. If that wasn’t bad enough, our plumber was away for the weekend. The installer of the system was attending a football game was wasn’t available. Luckily, we found a temporary solution. That was great because the part took two weeks to come in (as it was back ordered). Next, I was driving home on the highway and I had car trouble. Help came quick and it was a minor repair. Lastly, the furnace began dripping and another call for service. All in all, this could have been a really expenses month on top of our regular bills. We were fortunate enough to have an emergency fund to rely on when needed.
In praise of emergency funds! I can’t say enough about having an emergency fund to use in times of an emergency, as well as having the protection of insurance. We had a big life emergency this time, and it could have been much worse.
While Dave and I were out of the house for about an hour and a half, an emergency struck our house. A feeder line for the toilet broke and we came back to a small geyser. Not only was the bathroom flooded, the water flowed into the master bedroom and then down into the basement. Ugh! You can imagine the damage this has caused. But it could have been much worse.
So this is how our afternoon went:
* Shut off the water – we had individual shutoffs installed all over the house
* Next the clean-up began – towels, wet vacuums and more
* Contacted the insurance company to file a claim. This is the first homeowners claim we ever filed.
* Started the removal of the damaged stuff, and this was hard without Dave being able to move things.
* The insurance company sent out Service Master to remediate the damage. They moved the heavy furniture, installed the industrial fans and dehumidifiers to lessen the damage
* Next day we had to replace the modem, as we lost phone and internet service. It’s difficult to make multiple calls with only a cell phone.
* The drying out stage lasted for days. It included the carpets, hardwood floors, ceramic tiles, sheet rock, furniture and that’s only the big stuff!
Now we are at the rebuilding stage, with the contractors giving us estimates for replacing floors, hard wood and tile, sheet rocking the portion of the walls that were cut away with water damage, painting of rooms, replacing furniture and items that were damaged and more.
Living in a disorganized home as two rooms of furniture and personal items had to be moved out of the rooms and the basement, made our home somewhat of an obstacle course for quite a few weeks. Hopefully by the holidays, we can be back to our organized house.
Tax Time
It’s that time of year when we start to think about taxes – gathering documents, looking at what can still be done to benefit you.
Now that it’s 2019, there are still some things you may be able to do to help yourself in 2018.
Don’t forget it’s not too late to make your pre-tax retirement contribution for last year. You actually have until April 15 to make your contribution for last year, if you haven’t maxed out your contribution for the previous year. This is turn could lower your taxable income and may turn owing on your taxes into a refund.
If you have a Health Savings Account (HSA), you may also be able to make a contribution for last year, if you haven’t maxed out your contribution amount for 2018. Again, this may lower your taxable income and may turn owing on your taxes into a refund.
Ask your accountant what you can do now to see if you can benefit from this for last year. It never hurts to ask.
Get Organized
January is National Get Organized month.
What are you doing to get yourself and your space organized?
In my book, Thrive In Five:Take Charge of Your Finances In 5 Minutes A Day, January is the month to organize your bills. Now that the holidays are over, actually open up your bills and look at the bill details, don’t just pay them. Take the time to review them to see if it’s correct. Take the time to see if you can do something to save money, Take the time to see what competitors are charging – maybe it’s time to switch or negotiate. If you want to follow along, my book gives you action steps for each day of the month, so that this isn’t an overwhelming task.
We review our bills in our household each year and it never ceases to amaze me how much we can save. We stick to my 5 minute a day theme, take an honest look at one bill. We found that our gasoline credit card bill neglected to give us the $.06/gallon discount. It’s not much, but it is still our money. So we made a quick call and got the discount applied. All this in less than 5 minutes.
And because it’s January and following along with National Get Organized month, we have set up our new filing system for 2019 bills. Start the filing now as the year begins so that your don’t have paper piling up. All papers are filed and ready if or when you may need them.
If you want to learn more about taking charge of your finances and would like to purchase a copy of my book, Thrive In Five:Take Charge of Your Finances In 5 Minutes A Day click here.
January Credit Report Reminder!
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Starting Off Your Finances For The New Year
Is one of your goals to take control of your finances this year? Do you want to get control and understand what you have and what you need? Do you just want to get your finances organized once and for all? Do you feel there are no more ways to cut your expenses? Is
your goal to save more money for retirement or other goal? Whatever you want, January is always a good time to start.
If you want to take a quick look and here’s a few tips from Real Simple Magazine – 22 Smart Ideas to Take Control of Your Money.
For a more in depth look, my book Thrive In Five: Take Control of Your Finances In Five Minutes A Day is a great way to start your finances off with a quick suggestion for each day of the year. Each chapter is dedicated to one aspect of your finances. And it even includes catch up days to when there isn’t enough time to squeeze on more thing into your day. For more information or to purchase your copy, click here.
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