Tips for Successful Personal Finances
Ever wonder what budgeting app is best for you and your family? Not sure where to start? I am asked this all the time and I don’t have a recommendation for you. I still use a manual method and am happy with that for us.
For those of you that do want to use an app, how do you make the right choice? Here is a great article from The Hartford comparing several apps to help you make the right choice.
Let me know what one you use and why. I would love to hear from you.
Do you ever wonder how much of your income should be going to this and how much should be going to that?
I know that you are aware that the general rule for your monthly mortgage payment should be 28% or less of your gross income. The mortgage payment plus your monthly debts (credit cards minimum payments, auto payment, student loan payment, etc.) should be less than 36% of your gross income. 
These are the guidelines that help us to determine where your finances stand at any point in time. You may be higher or lower, but your know how you stand against the suggested ratios.
Here are some other suggestions:
Emergency Funds – 3 to 12 months of income. You need to have money aside for yourself when emergencies occur. There are several thoughts here for amounts – I believe that homeowners should be more towards the 12 month or more range, as you never know when you might need to make an emergency repair right now. Also, if you become unemployed, it seems that the older we get the more time there is in between jobs. This plus many more scenarios could make you rely on this emergency fund. Start or increase yours today.
Savings – the more the better! You can never have too much savings. Automate your savings and pay yourself first. Have your savings deducted from your paycheck each and every paycheck – that’s the pay yourself first part. You need to do this, as there is never money left over to save. Living off what’s left is the way to go. Remember to increase this amount often (at least every time your get a raise). If you haven’t do this start small – maybe $20 / paycheck and keep increasing this. I would love for you to aim for a minimum of 10% of your income.
Food – this one is a hard one. I know that we spend a lot on our food budget. Maybe you think this way too. I personally have tried different ways to keep this under control – from vegetable gardening, to only buying with cash, to sticking to lists (meal planners and grocery lists), but it’s tempting to spend more – that are so many items (not on my list) that we seem to want.
For a general guideline of what percentage of your check should be, check out this article from Every Dollar. Remember that these are suggestions and you can tweak them to fit your lifestyle.
This newsletter, we are going to talk about spending too much! Personally, we upgraded the master bedroom and bath. In addition to the insurance deductible, we added on the additional expense of better bathroom fixtures – granite counter, higher end faucet, natural stone ceramic tile and more. Yes, we did spend more (maybe too much). With a new year beginning, we need to reign in our expenses and rebuild our savings.
If your 2017 goal is to track your expenses and come up with your actual budget, there is an exercise I like my clients to do when they have their budget created. Take out two different color highlighters. Use one color for your fixed expenses (amounts that can’t easily change) and then use the second color for expenses that you can adjust or eliminate. Typically, I see three areas for the adjust or eliminate category:
Now make a list of five ways to reduce or eliminate specific items. For example, I could find a teen to shovel my snow versus paying a snow plowing service.I could download a movie for free (Hoopla) or borrow from the library versus renting and not returning on time and incurring a late fee. I could balance my checkbook regularly to know how much money I have available and not incur an overdraft fee. These are just a couple of ideas. Now make your list and track your savings. How much did you save this month? How much would that be in one year?
Are you getting the hang of it? Are there more ways to reduce or save on your expenses? Share what expenses you have reduced or eliminated by 5pm EST on March 10, 2017 as a comment below and you could win a copy of my new book 111 Ways To Save. Three winners will be selected randomly at the end of March.
Have you made a resolution to stick to your budget in 2011? So far this year, I have overspent in my budget category of snow removal I am sure I am not alone What do you do when it’s only January 20 and you have overspent? You have some tough decisions to make.
You have several options If you decide that you want to continue having your snow removal done by someone else, you could find another way to pay for this expense You would have to give up something else that would free up the money for more snow removal You could do it yourself, if you are physically able You can access your emergency savings account Remember that savings account that I have been asking you to build up so you have one year’s worth of expenses to spend on life’s “what if’s” now could be one of those times.
Budgeting is only as good as your projections and sometimes we project too little That is why you need to be flexible with your budget, so that when you have unexpected expenses or more costs than you have planned, you can deal with it Overages in one category mean shortages in another Determine what you can lessen to have the extra money for the overages Build that emergency savings for those overages so you have a cushion to fall back on Because you never know how much snow we are going to get in a season.
2020 has been a year unlike any other – from job loss / furloughs to pandemics to hurricanes. All of this has signaled changes in our lives, not only in what we do (or don’t do), how we live and how it affects our finances. We must learn to adapt our finances to changing times.
For many this is a year that you started (or continue) to accumulate debt. Not a good thing! 
Let’s first talk about all the ways that you may be accumulating debt:
Not having an emergency fund. You have heard me preach over the years about having a savings account for life’s what ifs. This was the year that many of us needed to fall back on our emergency savings as jobs were lost / furloughed and the unemployment system was overwhelmed, and payment were delayed. Your emergency savings was the way to get you through in these uncertain times.
Adapting to change (the new normal). As your life changes, so should your finances. Meaning that if you have job loss / less income coming in, you need to tighten your belt and cutback on your expenses. Answer these two questions. Think what can I get for free that I have been paying for? Think what can I reduce or eliminate in my monthly expenses? Want more information, check out my past newsletter, Budgeting By The Numbers.
Eating out / take out. Food is one of the biggest expenses in a family’s budget. Typically, when I coach a family, it the food that is an issue with their spending. How much is it costing you to eat out, pick up take out, grab a beverage versus bringing and cooking at home? Track this and see where your family stands.
Reimbursable costs. In these uncertain times, you may have more medical than other years. Make sure to utilize all your options such as FSA and HSA accounts, in network providers, etc. I was speaking with someone who hadn’t submitted any expenses to her FSA account. She potentially could be leaving a lot of money on the table by not timely submitting her expenses for reimbursement.
Check out next week’s newsletter for part 2.
This stay at home time, we have made changes to our routine. Bills are still coming in and some are higher, but income stayed the same or was even reduced. Something h
ad to change.
For our electric bill that went up (even more now with summer air conditioning), we unplugged. Think shutting the strips on the TV ‘s when not in use, unplugging the computers and printers when not is use, unplugging the kitchen appliances, and more. By doing this we have reduce our bill by about $15 a month. AARP has an article on lowering your electric bill during summer.
Previously, we have reduced our cable bill, by reducing it to basic TV service and internet. Now we add whatever paid service that works for us – and only one at a time. We have smart TV’s and can access programming through the internet apps that are free. We use our local library’s digital collection for free. Right now, we are using Sling TV for other channels. In total, we spend about $110 a month total, by reducing the cord. Hopefully, one day we can totally cut the cord!
We have also not renewed most magazine subscriptions and cancelled memberships. For our warehouse club, I had to go into our profile and uncheck automatic renewal. If you do this, remember to check that you are not being automatically being changed when you shouldn’t be.
Voted Best Teen Book by the Teen Team at RadicalParenting.com and was selected by Jim Agnew’s Literary World as one of this Daily Picks.
Cash, Credit, and Your Finances: The Teen Years looks at finances through the eyes of five different teenagers. They all have things they want and need, but they all handle their money differently. Some will succeed and some will give up… which one do you want your child to be?
Cash Credit and Your Finances: The Teen Years is 10% off in April’s Financial Literacy Month when purchased at JillRussoFoster.com. Select the book and make the purchase through my website / BookLocker and use code 10FinancialMonth to receive the discount.
Want to take your finances to the next level?
Come to hear me and get your questions answered at Norwalk Community
College (Norwalk CT):
What about your teens, do you want them to learn about finances?
Have them come hear me at Norwalk Community College:
For more information or to register, please call (203) 857-7080 or Email: extendedstudies@norwalk.edu
I hope to see you there
Last week was amazing! I had the privilege of working with 6 great high schools students in a 5 day workshop. Listening and learning what they think and want to know about m
oney, credit cards, borrowing, paying for college and so much more. Thank you, Norwalk Community College for this opportunity. If you missed this, I will do this again next summer.
Here is what some of the teens had to say:
“I learned alot about budgeting and finances”
” Good course very helpful”
“Learned about of new stuff and it was fun”
What do you teens know about money and finances?
It’s going to be a busy July for me. Do you or your teen want to learn about money and finances? If so, I will be offering classes / workshops both in Norwlak and New Haven, CT:
Norwalk Community College – Welcome To The Real World: Teens and Money
Integrity 1st Learning Support Solutions – Life Skills Boot Camp – I will be teach the financial portion on both Mondays, July 15 and August 12.
Integrity 1st Learning Support Solutions – Welcome To The Real World: Teens and Money
Norwalk Community College – Budgeting To Create A Spending Plan
Integrity 1st Learning Support Solutions – Budgeting To Create A Spending Plan
For Norwalk Community College classes registration at call 203-857-7080 or please visit Norwalk Community College.
For Integrity 1st Learning Support Solutions class registration call 203-800-4100 or please visit Integrity 1st Learning Support Solutions