Jill Russo Foster

Tips for Successful Personal Finances

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Finances: An Honest Look

My finances weren’t always in great shape – too much debt, weak savings,  with some self-indulgent spending for good measure. To stay on top of my finances, I have had to take the occasional “honest look”.  I think of it as a 3-way mirror view of my situation. By that, I mean that enlightening view you get in the department store changing room where you find out how people see you from the back on a bright, sunny day.

First,  I encourage you to step in front of that mirror and take an honest look at your spending and debt. You may want to stick your head in the sand.  Please don’t.  I can assure you that no matter where you are with your money, with action you can firm up your finances.

You need to ask yourself these questions:

  • Are you using credit cards for your basic expenses?
  • Are you making multiple transfers from savings to cover your checking account?
  • Are your wages running out before the end of the month?
  • Are you avoiding your bills by not opening your mail or emails?
  • Are you only making partial payments on utilities and credit cards?
  • Are your credit card balances going up versus down?

Answer these questions honestly  – either alone or with the person you share your finances.  Again, Be Honest. You may be thinking, “It’s the economy”  or  “I wouldn’t be in this situation if not for…”  You have to face the reality that is, not what should have been. You cannot change the past. All you can do is to pull your head out of the sand and address the issue now by taking action.

The first thing to do is to track your spending.  Keep a list of all that is coming in (income) and going out (expenses).  That is the only way you can determine how much of a shortfall you have.

Once you know, you can begin to make changes.  You will see where your money is going and can cutback and eliminate unnecessary spending.  If you need help, I offer coaching packages that can get you through this.

You want to take action on the overspending now, Trust me, in my 20s I had maxed out many credit cards and had to pay off all that debt. At times, I worked three jobs and it seemed like it would never be paid off, but I did and you can too.  The sooner you start the better off you will be.

Start today before it’s too late, and it snowballs into something so big that you cannot manage it, and the only answer is bankruptcy.

How We Cut Costs So We Can Afford Great Food and Travel

Saving money is a passion of mine and all these snow days have given me more time at home.  Instead of online shopping, I stayed inspired by watching TV shows on frugality, doing some online research, and reading many books.

After learning about all the creative ways a person can cut costs, I wouldn’t say that I’m a cheapskate. I just scrimp and save in some areas, so I can splurge in others.

Reuse and Borrow

We do reuse and borrow versus throwing away or buying. I suppose that some people might think it’s pretty miserly to rinse and reuse a plastic baggie, or to save packing peanuts. But it works for me. We also like to lend equipment amongst close and family members. We don’t all have to own our own tile cutter or a rotor router – it’s easier and cheaper to borrow from someone you trust.

Recycling – Including Rainwater and Kitchen Scraps

We are avid recyclers.  Our town accepts all plastics, glass, metal, newspapers and other paper at the dump.  It doesn’t seem like work to me. Honestly, my mother was a recycler and that’s just how I grew up.  We have a rain barrel in our yard for watering the flowers and garden.  We have a compost bin for our fruit and vegetable scraps, which is a really great fertilizer for our vegetable garden.. We have cut down our trash to about a bag a week.

The extra work saves us money on our water bill, fertilizer, and our trash bill. And, it makes me feel good.

The Thrill of a Great Bargain

Buying on sale is kind of a thrill.  The new curtains we bought for the bedroom were on sale – plus we had a coupon! The curtains originally sold for $39.99 a panel.  They were marked 75% off to $10 and we had a $5 off coupon.  So they became $7.50 per panel. Trust me; I didn’t buy them for the price. We only bought them because we liked them and they would look great in the room.  But getting them on sale with a coupon is a great feeling. It was a great find.

Where We Splurge

Yet there are things that we are not frugal about.  If you have followed this newsletter, you know that we travel.  It’s true that we are able to get great deals when we want them, but sometimes we want to travel at a peak time when the weather is great and the price is higher. We’re also not frugal on our food choices; we spend extra on grass fed meats, wild seafood and organic vegetables.

The Bottom Line

Bottom line is that you need to be comfortable with your choices. But if you are an over-spender (stay tuned for next week’s newsletter on overspending), you should try to find ways to cut costs on things that aren’t important to you so you can afford the things that are.

Tell us, what’s your favorite cost-cutting trick and your favorite splurge item.

Don’t Let Money Ruin Your Romance

In honor of Valentine’s Day, I want to talk to you about love and money. I have known many couples who were in love until they found out about the other person’s money habits.

Your money incompatibility doesn’t have to end the relationship. If this is the one, you can make it work. You just have to ask the right questions.

This is what you need to know about each other:

  • Financial Issues: Income, assets, expenses, debt and credit. Understand what is going on with each other’s finances. Are there debts and back taxes? Are the savings accounts available to use jointly? Should some of the assets be merged or sold off, and if so which ones?
  • Money Type: Are you a Spender or a Saver?  If you know, you can use your joint goals to meet in the middle on common ground. If you’re habits are extreme, you might want to keep separate bank accounts. That way, one of you won’t feel pinched while the other is in a constant state of sticker shock.
  • Long Term Goals: What do you want from life?  Do you want to be married or single? Do you want to be a homeowner or rent for the rest of your lives?  Do you want to have children? These questions need to be answered so you can save towards the same goals.
  • CFO (Chief Financial Officer): Who is in charge of the money? Is it one of you or both?  Will you split the responsibilities by category or do everything jointly? Knowing will keep “that’s mine” arguments to a limit.

With this information, you can decide if you want to keep your finances together or separate.  Joining your bank accounts together with someone who has ignored debt or back taxes may mean your money is at risk (even if it’s not your obligation), and in the end, puts you both in the same deep hole with no way out.

Finances can be the doom of relationships.  Being informed and making proactive choices is the best way to make the relationship work.

How to Negotiate a Lower Price

Let’s talk about negotiation. I’m not as comfortable negotiating as I would like to be, but I’ve been trying it out and it works!!!!  Honestly, what have you got to lose?  The worst they can say is “no”.

I bought Dave a big screen TV with a great online deal, but when we tried to set it up, we realized it didn’t fit on the TV stand.  That never occurred to me, and we had company coming for the holidays. So the search was on to find a media console at a good price, in a style that matched our furniture, before the family arrived. Was it possible? Yes.

Both Dave and I (together and separately) checked many stores – furniture stores, clearance centers, consignment shops, online websites, etc.  Some stores had what we wanted but couldn’t meet our timeframe. Another store had one we liked, but the price was over our budget.  We even found one that we liked and fit our budget, but it was out of stock.  This was a full-blown all-out search as time was running out.

Then we found it – the perfect one. So here’s how we negotiated:

1. The store couldn’t get it to us in time, but we asked if we could buy the floor model.  Yes, we could.

2. They had a poster in the window advertising 20% off with store credit. We asked if we could get the store credit discount if we paid in full right then. Yes, they gave us the advertised discount even though we didn’t open a store credit account.

3. The floor model had a few nicks and scratches, so we asked if they would give us an additional discount for imperfections. Yes, they would.

We walked away with the media console that afternoon at an amazing price.

Bottom line, it wasn’t horrible to negotiate.  We simply asked questions. We were not pushy or demeaning about the product or the staff. And, yes, we would have politely walked away if we didn’t get a price that worked for us.

So, the next time you’re out shopping, ask questions that might help you negotiate a better price.  You may well get the answers you wanted to make the sale a win-win for everyone.

Happy Negotiating!

It’s time to order your report

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It’s January 2014 –
Time to Order Your First Credit Report of the Year
This month use Experian

Hello, it’s Jill again, reminding you to get your finances in order for the New Year by checking your credit report.

How to Order Your Credit Report

Order your credit report from www.AnnualCreditReport.com – the ONLY authorized source your no-cost annual credit report that’s yours by law.  Learn more.

When ordering online – visit www.AnnualCreditReport.com:

  1. Select your state, then click Request Report.
  2. Fill out your information, then click Continue.
  3. When it asks you to select a service, select Experian.

Not comfortable ordering online? There are other ways to order your report:

It doesn’t matter how you get your report, the most important thing is that you do! Then…

  • Review it for accuracy!
  • Follow the instructions with the report to correct any errors.
  • And, always remember to keep copies for your records.

Were you hoping to get your credit score instead? Try CreditKarma.com. CreditKarma does not supply a FICO score, but it does provide scores from TransUnion and VantageScore. And, there’s no charge for you. CreditKarma funds their service through website advertising.

May you have a wonderful and successful year!

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P.S. I’ll send you another reminder in May and September to help you stay up-to-date on your credit throughout the year.

The Worst Things You Can Do With Your Money

This is my personal top five list of the worst things you can do with your money

no-11.  Pay ATM fees (or for that matter, any bank fees) – There are banks out there that won’t charge you just for the privilege of having a checking account. You shouldn’t be paying a monthly maintenance fee or ATM fees.  Ask your banker how to eliminate the fees. If they can’t, or won’t, move your money to a better bank.

no2.  Pay interest or finance charges on credit cards – Paying interest or finance charges is a complete waste of perfectly good money.  It might have been a great deal when you swiped your card, but when you add interest, you’ll end up paying more than it was worth. If you currently have credit card debt, try moving it to a card that offers zero percent interest on transfers for the first 12-18 months. Once you are out of debt, pledge that you will not pay interest or finances charges ever again.

no-13.   Sign without reading the fine print – Never sign anything that you don’t read.  If you read it and don’t understand it, then ask questions or do your own research to understand it before going forward.  I speak with so many people who just signed an agreement thinking they got a great deal, and then were blindsided hidden fees and additional charges.  Were they really cheated? No, they just read the price in the big print, and not the details in the small print.

no4.  Pay for unused services (or things) – Are you paying a monthly fee for services you don’t use or could get for free?  If you’re actually using them, that’s fine. But if you not, you could use that money for something that will actually make you feel good.  I cancelled my magazine subscriptions because I wasn’t reading them.  If you pay a credit monitoring service, you can do this for free with very little time investment. Are you paying for online services instead of using the free version? If so, are you actually making the most of it?

no-15.  Duplicate Spending – Have you bought something at the store only to find out you already had one in the back of the closet?  That is duplicate spending.  You can resolve this by getting organized and getting rid of the clutter.  If you know where to find something, you can easily access it before you go out and buy a duplicate.

In the comments, let us know where you stopped wasting your money!

New Year’s Urge to Purge

New Years Day and winter go together where I live. It’s hard to get that “fresh start” feeling when the windows are sealed shut and the garden is dormant. If I lived in Australia, I might spend New Year’s Day planting seeds – instead, I find myself checking closets and drawers and getting the Urge to Purge.

Nothing says “last year” like unused things. Magazines, electronics, household goods… items that have been upgraded, replaced, tried but disliked, expired – these misfit goods find homes in cupboards and drawers all around my house – and probably yours, too.

I’m actually very good about keeping “stuff” to a minimum and my home clutter free. If an item is unusable, it only takes a second to throw it away. But… there are things that I just don’t want to toss; they may be useful to someone. How can I get it from my house to theirs without a lot of trouble?

It’s Easy to Give It Away, Sell or Donate:

  • Use CraigsList.org and FreeCycle.org. There’s no charge and you won’t have to ship your items. People will come pick them up. You can sell them or give them away. I have sold everything from toothbrush heads to a car.
  • Use local consignment stores. Consignment shops sell the item for you and take a percentage of the sale – but you keep ownership of the item. For example, you might agree to leave it there for 90 days, and they’ll take a 50% cut if it sells. If it doesn’t sell, you can take it back home and try to sell it another way. Others might offer to buy the item directly from you to resell themselves. You may be familiar with popular chain consignment stores, like Play It Again Sports and Once Upon a Child but most towns also have small mom & pop consignments that sell everything from clothes to appliances.
  • Donate items in good condition to an organization or charity. You can choose the usual places or find a local charity that serves a need that’s important to you.

We personally use some of the resources listed on my resource page.  We donated a laptop through the Cristina Foundation, we bring our used CFL light bulbs to Home Depot, our eye glasses to One Sight, and our old towels and sheets to the local animal shelter. We also used a trade in program when we needed a new printer – knowing that our old one would be recycled. These are just a few examples, it would take too long to list all the ways we pass on items that can be used or recycled.

Check out the resource page on my website for more suggestions. If you have any resources that you use that would help others, please let us know and we will add them to the list.

Get Ready for 2014 with Smart Goals

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What are your goals for 2014?  Let’s see if I can guess… is it one of these?

  • Get organized
  • Lose weight
  • Eat healthier
  • Exercise more
  • Save money
  • Get out of debt

Almost everyone wants something on this list. Why do we keep setting and forgetting the same goals every year if these are the basics of a healthy lifestyle? Let’s step back and talk about goals in general.

All goals should be S.M.A.R.T.

Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Reasonable
Timely.

Your goal to “Save more money” is smart, but it’s not S.M.A.R.T. With a general goal, you’ll never know how well you’re doing. “Saving more money” could mean adding an extra $1 to savings. It’s not going to do much for your budget in the long term.

But, if your goal is to “Save an extra $500 by the end of 2014”, that’s S.M.A.R.T.  You have a specific amount, it’s reasonable, you can track your progress and make adjustments to reach your time limit.

Back to 2014 goals – here are some resources that I use to make my goals a reality.

A Scanner

I’ve been tackling “getting organized” as a goal for a few years now, but I’ve been using the S.M.A.R.T. method, so I organized different items each year.

  • In 2012, I scanned all of our medical records.
  • For 2013, I scanned and saved all my recipes. My grandmother and mother, being great cooks, left me lots of family recipes. Plus, I had a cookbook collection, and lots of magazine and newspaper cutouts. So far, my scanned recipes have been a big plus in my life. They’re easy to find and share, my cupboards aren’t stuffed with paper, and we were able to donate 75% of my cookbooks.
  • For 2014, I am scanning all the family photos, slides and movies.  This is going to be a big project for me because I’ve become the archiver of family photos as relatives have passed away.  I have to admit that I have started a little early with my new all in one printer / fax / scanner.

Websites I’ve used to meet my goals

  • TripIt.com  is how I organize all of my travel plans in one place – airline confirmations, hotel and car reservations, tours etc.  All the information is in one place and easy to access. It’s as simple as forwarded the email receipt to Trip It and it appears on your itinerary.
  • For my goal of getting healthier (making better food choices, eating at home more and fitting in exercise), I use  LoseIt.com. It’s helped me with my 2013 goal of leading a balanced life and making more time for me.  Part of my goal was getting to know the feeds I eat so I can make better choices. LoseIt.com helped me to keep track of my food and to stay balanced (like watching the carbs to protein ratio).  The website and app lets you input a recipe and save it for future use.  There is a section for exercise too.

What are your tips and resources to help you achieve your 2014 goals?  We’d like to know what you do.

To really get your goals started for 2014, you can join my new Facebook group. It’s a month long class that will help you set realistic goals for the year ahead.

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A Facebook Group for Your Goals

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Join me for the month of January for Taking Charge of Your Finances. Many people want to have more in savings, to spend less, to pay down their debt, save for their children’s education, save for retirement, buy a home, and more. This will be your chance to connect with other like minded people, and get your New Year’s resolution off to a solid start.

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Learn more here

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A Facebook Group for Your Goals

click-here-to-join

Join me for the month of January for Taking Charge of Your Finances.  Many people want to have more in savings, to spend less, to pay down their debt, save for their children’s education, save for retirement, buy a home, and more. This will be your chance to connect with other like minded people, and get your New Year’s resolution off to a solid start.

completely-free

We will run the private group through Facebook.  You do need to have a Facebook account to join.  Simply click here -> www.facebook.com/groups/takecharge2014/ then click the Join Group button, and we’ll approve your membership.

You can participate in this group from the privacy of your home, and on your own schedule.  I’ll post questions and assignments for you, give you ideas and resources to use to help you succeed in your goals. In turn, you can share as much as you want about your goals and finances, so you can discuss your challenges and learn from one another. This is a closed group, which means your posts will only be visible to each other, and not to your Facebook friends.

Your first assignment

We’ll start out with you telling us what personal financial goals you want to achieve.  The goals can be short term (something that you want to complete in 2014) or a long term goal that needs your attention in 2014 if it’s going to continue over the years.

We will limit the group size so make sure you sign up today!

click-here-to-join

Jill Russo Foster

https://www.jillrussofoster.com/4625/

Getting Ready for Winter

As I write this post the temperature is 51°, the winds are howling and we are expecting 2 -3 inches of rain.  By tonight it will be in the 20’s.  Hard to believe that winter doesn’t officially start for another few weeks.

Here are some of the things that we do to our cars and homes before the winter weather sets in:

For the car

  • Check the tire pressure for safe winter driving
  • Replace old wiper blades. You want blades that work in snow, sleet and cold heavy rains
  • Have the battery checked. There is nothing worse than having a dead battery in the middle of winter.
  • Get the oil changed
  • Add dry gas to your tank the next time you fill up

For the home:

  • Make sure you have working smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors with new batteries
  • Have your heating systems checked and cleaned
  • Have your gutters and down spouts cleared after the leaves are down.
  • Have your trees trimmed, removing any limbs that might be dangerous.  Your insurance may cover fallen limbs but that won’t protect you from physical injury or power outages.
  • Have your roof examined before the snow builds up on it.
  • If you have a fireplace or wood burning stove, have your chimney cleaned.

Be prepared so you can stay safe for whatever the winter season brings.