Taking a brief hiatus from my hiatus to share a discovery. Apparently Target is also giving discounts now for reusable bags. This may be old news, but it's new to me. I remembered to take a reusable bag in with me today and got 5 cents off my purchase. Okay, it's not a lot of money, but little bits here and there help (particularly if you frequent Target). And it's good for mother earth.
NaNoWriMo is going good for those who were curious. I'm now resuming the hiatus.
Philip and I will be participating in NaNoWriMo in November, and between that and keeping up with my day to day business, I will have no blogging time. To be honest, I've gotten a little dry on topics lately. It's still my plan to get back to the budgetting book and get it print on demand ready (probably on Lulu) in December. So I'll be back when there's actual book news to share.
Hope everyone has a lovely holiday(s) and that you all manage to avoid the flu.
After church yesterday, I accidentally ended up going out with a group for lunch (as in I tried to ask out one person. They missunderstood and opened invitation to others *sigh*). We all finally settled on Shoney's, which isn't the most expensive place, but I was upset over the missunderstanding and had lost my appetite, so buying the buffet seemed wasteful. Thankfully I found the baked potato for $1.69, which was enough to make a light lunch for me. Since I mainly was going for the conversation, this worked out well. Actually it worked out even better, foodwise, the kitchen staff lost our order, so we were allowed to get free salad since we had to wait forever for our food.
Anyone else have a favorite cheapest meal that you like to order?
I'm not in charge of the grocery buying or the main cook like I was in the apartment, which is the reason I haven't been doing as many food posts. But I prepared a meal the other day that was yummy, healthy, and fit the one dollar meal plan so I thought I'd share.
I bought a small bag of Kroger brand long grain rice (67 cents), which we boiled.
I also bought a single head of broccoli, a small bag of organic carrots (about $1), and small pack of button mushrooms (about $2). We used 4 carrots, the whole head of broccoli, and the whole pack of mushroom. We washed them and sliced the carrots and mushrooms so that they were flat. We then sauteed all the veggies (which means we put a little oil in the pan, turned the temp to 7 / med-high and cooked them just a little bit on each side). They should still be crisp when done.
I found some beef (for braising) on Manager's Special. It was .8 lbs (or 12.8 oz) for $2.12....which means there was 6 servings of meat in the package ( 2 oz. servings). We cooked the meat in the same frying pan we had used for the veggies, not doing anything special to it, just making sure it cooked through. Then we sliced up the meat into smaller bit sized pieces.
Normally I use teriyake glaze (or in a pinch soy sauce) to flavor this kind of meal, but we had neither. So I used what we had, mixing by smell. In the end I came up with a concoction that was about equal parts Worcestershire sauce and apple juice, with some cinnamon powder, some onion powder, and a lot of garlic powder. This was poured over the cooked meat, and actually tasted pretty good.
Everyone fixed their own plate, but it was really just beef and veggies over a bed of rice. There were three of us (me, my brother, and my co-writer), and I took the leftovers home and made another 3 meals off it. So we got about 6 meals out of food which cost me about $6. (Sorry I don't have the exact numbers...receipt is missing, had to go by memory.)
Oops, it's been almost a whole month since my last post. I've been busy with my business.
One thing that's really important in business and with personal life is to keep an organized paper trail of your finances and legal documents. Now I don't think it's necessary to keep every receipt forever. If you buy a stick of gum with pocket changes, you probably don't need to worry about keeping your receipt. However anything that might need to be returned, you should hold on to the receipt at least until the return date is past. Anything paid for with a credit card, debit or check, you probably ought to keep your reciepts until you've gotten your bill or statement and checked that they add up. Anything legal or tax related, you probably ought to keep for several years 3-7 depending on the document (and something indefinitely).
It can be a bit of a headache, but it can also save you money in the long run. Not keeping track of certain documents and receipts can really come back to bite you. A good friend of mine recently found out he had his license suspended due to unpaid parking tickets from a year ago. Now, he's pretty sure he paid them, but because he doesn't have a copy of the receipt and didn't write a check (in which case the bank might have a record of it) he has no way to prove he already paid. So now he'll have to pay again, plus additional fees. He could have gotten an additional ticket for driving on a suspended license, but the cop believed him when he said he didn't know (he really didn't).
A filing system doesn't have to be elaborate. While it may make things a lot easier to find if you have it alphabetical or sorted by date and category, you can squeak by with loosely grouped papers. A shoe box for receipts, a folder for bank statements, a drawer for legal documents may not be the ideal option, but it's still a lot better than letting important things get completely lost or thrown out.
I'm a little OCD personally, so I have my papers in two file drawers, one for business and one for personal. My business files are color coded with their contents written on tabs. It only takes a little extra effort to put papers away as they come in, but it makes a WHOLE lot easier to find stuff later.
Theoretically the IRS wants you to report all income, even from these occasional jobs. However if you make under $400/year, you probably don't need to worry about Self-Employment tax.
According to the IRS on the Instructions for Schedule C: "An activity qualifies as a business if your primary purpose for engaging in the activity is for income or profit and you are involved in the activity with continuity and regularity. For example, a sporadic activity or a hobby does not qualify as a business...."
Babysitting is a good example (and a nice way to pick up a little extra). If you babysit only a handful of times over the year then you don't have a business, however if you do it every week as I do, then you probably should be considered a business. (Just to throw another twist on it, if you babysit for a single family, going to their house weekly, then you are probably considered a household employee and not in business for yourself.)
There are some friends and family exclusions, though you need to check the laws carefully. For instance if you do household chores for your grandmother every week, and she gives you $50 for being such a big help to her...that probably doesn't need to be reported. Same if you give your parents $200 in "rent" for living in their spare bedroom, or own your own home and rent out a room to a buddy (as long as you're living in the house)...in most cases that doesn't need to be reported.
Pratically, it's highly unlikely that anyone will come after you for not reporting the $30 you earned babysitting or the scarf you knitted and managed to sell for $20, or even the $150 you managed to bring in unloading all the junk during your last yardsale. However when you exceed $200 in profit and are doing something more than once a month (or on an ongoing basis), you should double check local laws and make sure you're keeping your nose clean. On crafting projects in particular, don't forget to factor in your cost of goods. You may sell a necklace for $60, but if you used $55 worth of materials, you only made a $5 profit.
And there are some advantages to properly reporting additional income, it can help with your credit and apartment applications if you can show more income. And if you're lucky enough to be making enough to worry about Self-Employment taxes it can help by increasing your SS benefits. Also if you think you might want to try a full time business someday, doing something part-time can help you get your feet wet and minimize your risk. Reporting a loss from an attempted business can also save you money on your taxes, but doing this too often will put you on the IRS radar (after 3 years, I think you're automatically reclassified as a hobby).
Note: Double check all this info with the IRS, etc., cause the rules can change from year to year, and your state may have additional requirements.
Questions: Do you do anything on the side to supplement your income? Or have you considered doing so?
AOL had a decent article on some free stuff available this summer http://www.walletpop.com/economizer/fant
I checked McDonald's site to confirm that they are indeed having free Mocha Mondays until August 3rd (so today and next week). Between 7am and 7pm you can stop in for a free cafe Mocha (if your McDonalds is participating).
The free business card thing has been around for a while. I haven't used it, but I've gotten cards printed that way.
If you recently lost your job Pfizer has a program to help you not lose your medication too: http://www.pfizerhelpfulanswers.com/page
The AOL article lists additional freebies as well.
One thing I've learned is many complexes yo-yo their prices like nobody's business. So while online research can help you get a ball park price, going door to door (or calling) will help you find the most current (and best) price. There can be a huge difference in the price of the same basic floor plan based on some feature which may or may not be important to you like a view, a fireplace, or higher ceilings. There can also be a significant difference from week to week, so if you liked a place but it didn't fit your budget, consider calling back after a week or two.
Like with home buying, it's good to start by making a list of your requirements. What's the max monthly payment you are willing/able to make? What ammenities are important to you? What do you need as far as space and floorplan go? What's your ideal location? What's acceptable, etc.? And what isn't acceptable.
While hunting always ask about deposit amount and any application and move in fees, as well as what utilites, if any, are included. Some times places with lower advertised rents will have more fees and service charges, so you really need to get all your numbers together for comparison to find the best over all price. And whenever possible it's good to get feed back from other people who have lived in a complex. This is something that's easier to find online, since there are lots of apartment hunting/review sites out there. Just keep in mind people are more likely to go out of their way to complain than praise, and changes in management can make a huge difference to changes in service.
There also seems to be a growing trend in the past few years for home owners to rent out a room. I've seen some pretty good deals with fewer fees and restrictions than apartment complexes. I've seen these range from fully furnished bedrooms to full basement apartments with private entrances. As with a roommate, there needs to be a personality and situation fit. Just remember to get these arrangements in writing.
I incorporated my business this week...the actual incorporation was fairly simple, but I'm gonna need to work hard to make sure I'm following all the rules and filing the right paperwork, etc.
One thing the process of trying to get the right structure for my business has impressed on me is that there's not one way that's best for every business. (I went through 2 financial advisors before I could get one to understand why S-corp wasn't a better option for my situation). This is true in personal fianance too.
In our book we spend much more time talking about how to think about your budget than giving you fill in the blank forms for setting one up. The reason for that is we want everyone to realize that a budget is a very personal thing. What makes sense for one person doesn't make as much sense for another. Even what makes sense for most people may not makes sense for you personally.
There are certain universal needs like food, water, and shelter, but what form those needs take varies from individual to individual. For instance the nutritional needs of 200lb pro football player are different from those of a 100lb woman with a desk job. Learning to recognize and plan for your personal needs is an important part of budgetting effectively.
My access time is restricted, so just giving a quick announcement.
After talking thing over, my co-writer and I have decided to self-publish our book through my company (which I'll be incorporating shortly). There's a lot that went into the decision, but the good news is that this mean delays will be cut down considerably.
There's no firm deadline yet, but I'm hoping to have the book out in or by December.
Edit: Got the incorporation stuff done today. It was a little nerve racking, but in some ways a relief. The government people were nice. I'm not a business expert. So please don't think at any point I'm saying do what I do as far as business goes, just sharing some of what I learn and experience as I go along.
There is something called an FSA (Flexible Spending Arrangements). The problem with these is that they are "use-it-or-lose-it" plans...so you just lose any money you didn't spend (sounds wonky to me). I would avoid them.
I had to have $100 to open the HSA account, but after that the amounts I contribute are entirely up to me provided I stay within the IRS max limits ($2900 for an individual in 2008). My current plan is to put $100 a month into the HSA. I'll use the money for things like visits to the dentist and the eye doctor. The IRS has a pamplet explaining them http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p969.pdf. You do have to meet certain qualifications, mainly having a high deductible health plan (HDHP).
I like the flexibility here, because if I have a tough month I could just not contribute to the account...or if I have a really great month, I can contribute a little extra. If I save $1200 in one year, but only use $600. That remaining $600 stays around for next year.
Health Insurance and savings plan is one of the few pre-tax things I think it's really worthwhile for those of us in the lower income level to look into.
I should add that a book I was reading earlier this week, indicated that HSA/HDHP combination is probably best for younger people who are relatively healthy (thus more likely to build up savings in the plan for future years/retirement).
I love Goodwill, picked up two shirts today for $1.98 total. (I need to force myself to get rid of two old shirts I no longer wear).
I have a second baby starting on Monday, which is wonderful. (I'll be making minimum wage again!) This work from home thing has done wonders for my gas consumption.
I've been reading up on S-corp formation...which is only thrifty in the sense that I made use of library resources instead of buying books.
My mom broke her foot and is stuck in bed due to swelling, so my dad and I have been picking up more of the household chores. I'm proud of him. But it does make me extra glad that I'm doing the work from home thing.
A lighter topic. Apparently they've coined a new term for finding something fun to do in your home town instead of going away for a vacation. (Thus saving on travel cost.) Even if I had the money, I'm not in the mood to go traveling anytime soon. I am pondering spending an absurd amount on a Wicked dinner package in September. If I do it, it'll be my Staycation.
Of course there are some fun things you can do without ever leaving your house. I had my "week off" this last week, and spent all my time at home playing video games, reading, hanging out with my best friend, and catching up on a few odd projects.
Funny thing is that there's a water park within long walking distance from my house, and I've never been there. Are there untapped entertainment spots in your area that you're considering a Staycation to this summer?
A will (or living trust) is another of those things that is much more important once you have dependents. However, if you want to have any say in what happens to your assets after you die, then read on.
My dad had me do some research for him on Wills and Living Trusts. If you watch Suze Orman, she's very big on the Living Trust thing. If you have considerable assets or a complex estate or other people are immediately dependent on you, then she's probably right. But as my research implies the average cost for setting up a Revocable Living Trust is around $700, it's not something that most singles (without kids) in the lower income bracket are going to need or want.
My parents have a moderate level of assets, so in their case a clearly written Will should make it through probate without major delays. I've just been trying to convince them that evenly splitting everything three ways would be a mean thing to do to us. Cash 3 ways is easy to figure...splitting a house 3 ways is setting us up for years of headaches. Apparently the average cost for having a lawyer set up a Will is $300.
Now if you care who gets your stuff after you die, it's important to have a will. But spending $300 on the possibility of your death when you're trying to figure out how to afford groceries doesn't make sense. This is the point where you really need to read up on your state law.
In Tennessee, apparently they have a sort of default formula as to who gets your money and stuff if you don't have a will (spouse and children, then parents, then syblings, then possibly more distant relatives). So even if you never get around to writing a will, you're family still gets something.
If you want something outside the standard formula in TN, you can write what's called a Holographic Will, which has to be in your own handwriting (not just the signature, but the whole document), and doesn't cost anything (you just need to be careful that you do it properly or it will be invalid). However it may not be valid in another state if you move. It will also need like other Wills to go through probate.
I don't have a huge estate, but because I have a business, I need to get a good valid Will set up. I have some files that need to go to certain people outside my family, and assets like my car, books, and collectibles that I want to go to certain people.
One way to get your cash to skip probate is to set your bank accounts up as P.o.D. or Payable on Death. Basically this means you name a person(s) who will automatically be able to draw from your account on the event of your death. All they have to do is show up to the bank with your Death certificate (and probably some form of I.D. for themselves). I have two non-business accounts, a Money Market and a savings. I set them both up with P.O.D.s yesterday, and it was really easy. I just gave the name and signed a couple of forms. I named two close family members, one who's living with me and one who isn't. The bank told me I could name as many people as I wanted, but only one of them could show up and draw the money from the account. I told my father I had put his name on there, because I want him to pay any funeral expenses out of my savings.
While we discuss several suggestions for reducing your shelter costs in our book, we don't spend much time on buying, mainly because most people earning minimum wage (or close to) have no business buying a home. But for many of us, it's still one of our long term goals.
My general rule of thumb is that you're ready to buy a home if you can save up a 20% down payment, and can afford double the monthly mortage payment after all other living expenses are covered.
Dave Ramsey says mortage payments on a fixed 15-year loan should not be more than 25% of your income (which is more straight forward). He has a nice section on Home Buying Tips up on his website that steps you through the process. If you're willing to do the research and paperwork, you don't have to be dependent on a realtor, but for most people it's probably worth the extra expense...experience is valuable.
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I would like to make a list of TV shows (and/or websites) that are helpful to people on a tight budget / in the lower income bracket:
My mom keeps HGTV going during all waking hours, so Free Style and Clean House pop up first in my mind.
PBS has lot of great programming for children...but I admit, other than Mystery, I don't watch much of their adult stuff.
Is there anything on Food network or DIY or another channel that comes to mind?
Or maybe a youtube channel with thrifty tips?
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poorskills collected this post on how houseplants clean the air. This is something I knew generally, but they list specific plants which are supposed to be very good for that job. Spider plants are neat cause they have babies all the time, which you can spread about or give as gifts (or find some one willing to give you one).Anyway, I've heard a couple of stories from different people lately that have once again brought home the importance of creating/having Emergency funds. The idea has always seemed pretty basic to me, but I'm often surprised by what intelligent people don't know or understand. (You should see my eyes glaze over when people start talking cars.)
I was wondering if anyone had any questions or confusion regarding the Emergency fund, like where to keep it, how much should be in it, or when to use it, or.....?
However, I'm sure you all have run into this issue too. You want to be social, but you need to watch your pennies a lot more than your friends seem to need. Sometimes you can speak up and ask for a cheaper alternative, but that's not always an option that the others are willing to take. I've learned a lot of tricks for keeping my meal costs down at restaurants.
The first one is to just order a soup, salad, or something off the appetizer menu, which tends to be lower cost than a full size entree/meal.
The second one is to split with someone. Restaurant portions are often twice if not thrice what you really ought to eat for a single meal, so splitting your meal with someone both keeps the cost down and helps keep check on your waistline. My best friend and I used to do this a lot. And Phillip and I did it at my birthday dinner. If no one's willing to split, you can always save half for take home...then at least you're paying for 2 meals instead of one (pretty standard practice for my grandparents).
Third idea is to ask the server if they offer half-sized or small portions (some places will do this at a lower cost), or ask if you can order off the kids menu. This is what I did at Cracker Barrel today. I got a kids meal of macaroni, green beans, and a hot chocolate (there were some healthier option like milk available too). My meal was less than $4, so I was able to leave the waitress a 20%+ tip and still get out for $5 even. I wasn't super hungry, so it was plenty for my lunch. I was mainly there for conversation anyway.
In groups, you can usually get away with just ordering water and watching everyone else eat. I went through a period or two where I *had* to do that. I survived, though I think it often made the people I ate with feel a little uncomfortable. Sometimes people took pity on me and gave me items off their plate that they didn't want (sometimes I ate pretty well that way)....always helped when there was bread on the table.
One time at O'Charleys, I just ordered a $1 scoop of ice cream...mmm, that was good. My friends kinda laughed, but I think it made them feel a lot better that I was eating SOMETHING. And I enjoyed it. I ate something healthier at home later.
Nothing too odd about the shirt. It was a medium, normal size range for me. The pants however were marked as 16/extra large...they didn't look extra large, so I think this is in kids or preteen sizes (do they have preteen sizes?). That or they shrunk considerably in the wash. I'm normally a size 9, but the pants looked like they would fit (and they were cute), so I tried them on. Fit perfectly.
A LOT of clothes hit the clearance rack or thrift stores because they are mislabled or have a non-standard fit. So don't be afraid to try something on just because it isn't "your size". I have shirts that are large, small, or medium, and my pants range from size 7 to 11 (though I'll admit the 7s are a bit snug these days...must start exercising more). Vintage clothes (particularly stuff over 20 years old) may have today's numbers, but don't fit the same way. (I have a pair of "10" pants from the 70s that fit more like a "7" today). Now throw a certain amount of realism into that...I've never found a size 0 or 3 that came close to fitting me. A good test is to hold the waist band up to your stomach and see if it will reach around half of your waist.
I'm not innocent. I bought a $100+ portable hard drive last year because I forgot that mine was on loan to a friend. Luckily in my case the redundancy creates a more secure back up system, but it still made me feel pretty dumb. It's a shame to waste money and space on something you already have.
So I'm encouraging everyone to go through your stored items, even if you're not planning to weed out anything, just to remind yourself what you already have.
I found two pieces at Goodwill for my Abby costume, a skirt (that is purely for the costume) and a black long sleeved-t (that I may wear on normal days too) for about $6 together. Since Big Lots was a short walk away, I stopped there too. I stocked up on babywipes and a few other items for my business (using business money), and found a few interesting food items.
The food isle at Big Lots is fun for me because of the random stuff that pops up there. They had Organic soy milk for $1.50 (which I didn't buy) and Organic Peppermint Chai Iced Tea Latte concentrate (you add milk) 32oz for $1.50...not super healthy, but not too bad for me either. And it tastes very yummy. They also had single servings of drinkable cold soup, called Cool Soup in two different flavors, one of which is "Vegetable Gazpacho" and the other "Carrot Bisque" for 50 cents each. As a Red Dwarf fan, I had to try the Gazpacho (which is new to me). I'm not completely won over, but if you're more of a soup fan than I, they're moderately healthy and a good candidate for lunch box stuffers.
Edit: I glanced over at
poorskills and saw that both Hannaford's Supermaket and Whole Foods are giving away free reusable grocery bags (1 per customer) today. Source Any other grocery chains involved?
