Organization & Planning

Financial Literacy Month – Tip #25

Gift Buying

Here’s the tip from November 15 – The Holidays month:

By now you know who you are going to buy gifts for. You have pared down the list to fit your spending plan. Now is when the rubber meets the road and you actually need to start shopping. You should list a few alternatives for each person on your list, making sure the gifts are within your budget. Begin to check the internet, newspaper ads and whatever else you can think of to ensure you get the best price (or at least a very good one). If you can stand the thought of fighting the crowds remember Black Friday is a time for really great prices or maybe Cyber Monday to shop online.

To purchase a copy of either of my books Thrive In Five: Take Charge of Your Finances in 5 Minutes a Day or 111 Ways To Save

#JillRussoFoster #30WaysToSave

Financial Literacy Month – Tip #24

Your List Continued

Here’s the tip from November 3 – The Holidays month:

Now that you have your list, are there people on it you would like to stop exchanging gifts with? Are you not sure how to do this? Last year I eliminated some people from my list. I didn’t want to be uncomfortable near the holidays if they gave me a gift and I didn’t have one in return. I spoke with these people ahead of time and told them of my thoughts and offered an alternative suggestion of spending time together or a long phone call. I still wanted to be connected with them. This worked great for me. How about you? Are there people you want to eliminate from your list? Don’t be shy about this step, I have a feeling more people want to stop than let on and they will be relieved that you raised the topic for them.

To purchase a copy of either of my books Thrive In Five: Take Charge of Your Finances in 5 Minutes a Day or 111 Ways To Save

#JillRussoFoster #30WaysToSave

Financial Literacy Month – Tip #23

Your Gift List

Here’s the tip from November 2 – The Holidays month:

Make your list of the people who you are going to get gifts for. Make sure you include those “extra people” to whom you usually give a holiday gift. These extras might include your hairdresser, your babysitter, housecleaner, mailman, etc. Also don’t forget people to who’s home you will be invited to and to who you wish to bring a hostess gift. Is it more people than last year or is it less? If it’s more pay close attention to tomorrow’s task. If it’s the same or fewer than last year, you’re in good shape but you should still go through tomorrow’s task just in case.

To purchase a copy of either of my books Thrive In Five: Take Charge of Your Finances in 5 Minutes a Day or 111 Ways To Save

#JillRussoFoster #30WaysToSave

Financial Literacy Month – Tip #22

Planning Ahead

Here’s the tip from November 1 – The Holidays month:

To reduce your stress, start to plan ahead. For me, waiting until the last few weeks would drive me crazy. If you start now, you can spread your spending out over the next two months and not be as overwhelmed. Today set up your game plan. At a minimum, at a high level it should consist of all the things you need to get done in the next two months.

To purchase a copy of either of my books Thrive In Five: Take Charge of Your Finances in 5 Minutes a Day or 111 Ways To Save

#JillRussoFoster #30WaysToSave

Financial Literacy Month – Tip #21

Planning Ahead

Here’s the tip from October 20 – More Income / Planning Ahead month:

While we are in a month of More Income and Planning Ahead, today would be a good time to begin thinking about your financial future and the documents that you should have in place to make sure things are carried out according to your plans and wishes. Think about this today and over the next few days we’ll talk about the specific documents that I think are absolutely necessary for you to make sure you have taken care of regardless of your age.

To purchase a copy of either of my books Thrive In Five: Take Charge of Your Finances in 5 Minutes a Day or 111 Ways To Save

#JillRussoFoster #30WaysToSave

Financial Literacy Month – Tip #9

Selling

Here’s the tip from June 8 -Selling or Donating month:

There are many ways you can sell unwanted items. Possibilities include consignment shops, thrift stores, online selling or classified ads, tag sales and auctions. You need to determine first if you want to do all the work and have the time or is it best to delegate to someone else. Today you need to think about your situation.

To purchase a copy of either of my books Thrive In Five: Take Charge of Your Finances in 5 Minutes a Day or 111 Ways To Save

#JillRussoFoster #30WaysToSave

Financial Literacy Month Starts Wednesday!

April is Financial Literacy Month and I want to spread the word so that everyone can understand and improve their finances.

For the month of April, we will be posting daily tips from my book Thrive In Five: Take Charge of Your Finances in 5 Minutes a Day on Twitter, LinkedIn and my Facebook Fan Page. We need you to share and repost to your connections and friends so that these simple tips spread across the internet. My goal is to increase my exposure and therefore increase the number of people who improve their finances.

First, remember to connect with me through social media – Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook Fan Page, or you can forward this blog post to your family and friends for them to sign up for the newsletter. Thank you for spreading the word.

We want everyone to have some extra cash this April, so let’s make it rain by sharing financial information that really works.

To purchase a copy of either of my books Thrive In Five: Take Charge of Your Finances in 5 Minutes a Day or 111 Ways To Save

Watch for my first post on April 1st. 🙂

#JillRussoFoster #30WaysToSave

What To Do At Home

In these troubling times, people are staying home more. We are doing the same by staying home and limited what and when we go out. After a while, it can be pretty boring. So here are some suggestions that we are doing:

Have you wanted to visit a National Park? Now you can tour them from the comfort of your home with virtual tours.
How about seeing a famous museum? You can see some of the world’s famous museums from your sofa.
How about your local library. Ours is closed, but we have many digital options, such as music streaming, digital books and comic books (audio and e-books) (Overdrive), magazines (RB Digital), movies and TV (Hoopla and Kanopy), newspapers, online courses (Great Courses) and more. Try it, you may like it – we do.
Start a project that you have been meaning to do. I have been doing projects in my home in my spare time for the last few years to get more organized and have accomplished so much, but there is more to do. I have completed sorting all family photos, movies, slides and there are all digitized. I have sorted paper records and scanned, shredded and tossed. I was able to sell three filing cabinets by getting rid of paper. Now I am tackling my father’s newspaper clippings.
Catch up on those books that have been sitting on your night stand.
Now that your home, you may want to cook more meals or try a new recipe.
If the weather is nice in your area, it’s spring and time to get out in your yard.
What can you do to help out a family member or neighbor? Maybe they need someone to talk to. Check in with these people by phone, video chat and email.
With our gyms closed, we still want to exercise. We have been taking daily walks around the neighborhood. If you want something more formalized like a class, many gyms are streaming virtual workouts that you can follow at home.
Support your local community. Several people in our town have contributed money and purchased take out food to help the local business and had them delivered to our hospital’s emergency room. Please check with both the business to see if they are open and have the delivery capacity as well as if the recipient can accept the gift.
Miss not going to a Broadway show? Playbill is giving you the information to be able to watch some of your favorite Broadway shows from home.

For more suggestions, here’s are more from USA Today and Lifehack

What area you doing? Let me know.

Automatic Transfers To Save More

savings-automatic

Have you struggled to save money because there never seems to be anything left over?Big surprise! We tend to spend the money we have in front of us. Getting a raise never seems to help, because that money disappears, too. There’s always something we think we need or want right now.

The best way to grow the money in your savings account is by setting up an automatic deposit from your paycheck. That way you never see it to spend it. If your company doesn’t offer this, that’s not a problem. Have an amount set up to be transferred automatically from your checking account to savings on a regular basis. The benefits here are that you are saving without any effort on your part and the money isn’t in your checking account to tempt you.

In addition, don’t have your saving account linked to your checking account on your ATM card. Why you ask? It’s too easy to transfer the funds without any thought. Also, you might want to have your saving account at another financial institution. You can access when you need the funds, but it isn’t that easy – so you will have time to think about withdrawing the funds.

Start to put your savings on automatic pilot today.

What Are Your Financial Goals for 2020?

What is it that you want to achieve with your finances? Is it to have an emergency fund? Is it to save for a specific goal such as a down payment on a home / car? Do you want to save more for retirement? Whatever you want you can achieve it.

Start by writing down your goal (in a SMART format). Then break it down to manageable steps.

For example, I want to save $500 by the end of the year – that’s

that’s $41.67 per month
that’s $9.62 per week

Now think of ways to find that money to save

could you bring your lunch / coffee to work one day a week
could you add an extra week between haircuts / manicures (if you do your nails every other week that’s 26 times a year, switching to every three weeks would be 17 times a year – that’s a savings of 9 manicures)
could you cancel or reduce your unused memberships / subscriptions
could you research lower costs for utilities / insurance
could you eliminate a fee (bank account, credit card and more)

With this in mind, you could find the $9.62 a week to save to meet your goal.

Remember that breaking it down to manageable steps is key so it doesn’t seem so over whelming.

Let me know what your financial goal is and maybe I can help you break it down in to smaller steps.