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What We Are Doing This Winter

Each winter, we clean out stuff. We seem to accumulate so much during the year. We make piles – some for donations, some for sale and some just to recycle and/or toss. This year has been different. We are really cleaning out, almost like moving or downsizing our lives. We look at items and ask “do we need this”, ” what purpose does this serve” and more. This has actually helped us to make a decision.

For example, I got a screaming deal on a new winter coat – 80% off in January. Instead of just adding to my closet, I donated two of my coats from my closet. When we bring in something new, we at least get ride of another something (and maybe more).

Right now, I am reading Joshua Becker’s The Minimalist Home and working through this. We are tackling the living room first (as he suggests). We have sold our VCR / DVD, and our donating VCR tapes and/or DVD’s to our local library’s book drive coming up in early March. Really, how many times have we watched them? How much money have we spent on these alone? Time to rethink our spending habits.

Freeing up the stuff is also freeing up new energy / opportunities. I can’t wait to see what is coming our way.

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.

Holiday Debt!!!!

Did you vow to not accumulate holiday debt this year!

According to Wallet Hub, the average person is expected to spend over $1,000 this year, that is up 4.1% over 2017.

What’s your plan to stay out of debt this holiday season? Here are some questions you need to think about?

How much can you afford to spend this year without going into debt?
How many people are on your list?
Can you eliminate or reduce the number of people? Think group gifts where you can pool your money with others.
Could you offer a service they need instead of a gift? What can you do that they need? Think childcare for an evening, so they can go out without the kids.

Take some time to think about what is important to you and your family. Don’t forget to think about your budget too. This is something that is really important so that you don’t have a January hangover. Everyone wants to celebrate the season, but no one wants someone to have all these bills come in January. Make a plan and stick to it.

Make sure you don’t fall off your plan with Black Friday this week.

Enjoy the holidays with your family and friends.

Planning Our Fall Vacation

What to do in each port? That’s a difficult question. So much to do and so little time.

If it’s a new place, sometimes we just want to take a tour to get an overview. That’s the case for the first and last stop of this cruise. We are taking a cruise line shore excursion to see the coast and in another city we are doing a whale watch.

Yet another city, San Francisco with a two day stop (we have been there before), what to do? Our original thought was to go to Yosemite for the day. We even worked out the details to make it work for us. But now the wildfires may derail this plan.

For us, the research is critical to saving money. First, what do we want to do? To start, we look at the cruise line shore excursions for ideas. If we find something that appeals to us – great! Then the research begins. What other companies offer this excursion? The research piece begins with for these other companies:

Is there a cruise guarantee? Do you get your money back if the cruise line doesn’t come into port?
Will they guarantee you will make it back tot he ship in time?
Will they pick up and drop off at the pier or very close by?
What are the companies reviews like (both on the website and with outside companies)?
What is the cost and what does it include?
Are there discounts?

These are important questions that we need the answers to.

Some of my favorite websites are Trip Advisor, Viator, Cruise Critic and more. I should tell you that Cruise Critic is the best. You join the chat room for your specific cruise and this puts you in touch with others sailing with you. This is a great resource, as we have shared private tours many time by joining others (and sometimes we have booked the tour and are looking for others to share with us).

All these are factors in determining what to do in port.

Travel Made Easier

You know we love to travel. Personally, the $85 I spent to get TSA Precheck was well worth it. It is so much easier to not have to take out your toiletries, electronics and/or take your shoes off. Note, that not all international airports recognize this status. Although, recently in London’s Heathrow airport and they did stamp my boarding pass on connecting flights and I was pleasantly surprised.

We actually had to wait weeks to get an appointment with the local (30 minutes away) office of IdentoGo. Then you wait more time to get your TSA Precheck number. Yes, it’s well worth it to not have to take off your shoes.

But by later this year, it will be easier. IDEMIA, the company will be offering the interview process through select Staples locations to start – 50 locations to start. How convenient will that be? When my renewal is due, this should be so easy.

Spring Cleaning Your Finances & More

Today, I am going to talk about actual spring cleaning and how I do this while saving money.

Personally, we try to avoid chemicals in all aspects of our lives. A few years back I was amazed at all the products on the market and what they were made up of. Have you hear of these words?

sodium lauryl / laureth sulfate (SLS)
fragrances and dyes
propylene glycol
parabens
formaldehyde

And that is to name only a few ingredients. Can you guess what products these chemicals are in? (see the bottom).

In our household, we have eliminated much of these thanks to many other options. We use Young Living’s Essential Oils and make many of our own products and/or purchase them from Young Living. Thieves is a staple in our home – here’s a link to the product information page. We use this oil / products to clean (dish washing soap, dishwasher detergent, tooth paste, hand sanitizer, wipes and more.

We make our own cleaners – one quick and easy to do one is glass cleaner (1/4 cup white vinegar, 2 cups water with a few drops of my favorite essential oils mix together in a glass spray bottle. This works great in mirrors, windows and glass coffee table. There are many more items you can easily make at home without chemicals. One of my favorite books Essential Oils Ancient Medicine by Dr. Josh Axe, Ty Bollinger and Jordan Rubin.

If you would like to try a sample of essential oils, I have a very limited supply of Young Livings Thieve’s essential oils, that I can let you try, just reply to this blog post and I will respond. If you are interested in learning more about Young Living oils, please click this link.

Not only can you spring clean your home without chemical, you can save money too. Home made products are easy to make and can be cost pennies (saving your wallet too).

Note, that I have an affiliate relationship with Young Living.

Toothpaste, Shampoo, Make Up, Laundry Detergent, Soaps, Deodorant and more.

What did you think?

You received my new format of a newsletter / blog combination on Friday. What did you like? What would you like to see that isn’t there? What would you change? Let me know your thoughts.

Do You Live In One of These Nine States?

If you live in one of these nine states, you may have to have a passport for air travel within the US! These states don’t have ID that is compliant with the Real ID Act of 2005 yet.

Is your state one of the 9? Read more.

For more financial tips, visit my website.

Service Interrupted!

Today would have been the day for our newsletter, Money Choices to resume, after our summer break.

But with Hurricane Irma heading to Florida, we have put this issue on hold. It’s more important for my assistant to take care of herself, family and be safe. Wishing everyone in the path of these hurricanes a safe and uneventful experience.

Bear with us and we’ll be back soon.