Jill Russo Foster

Tips for Successful Personal Finances

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Spring Cleaning Your Finances & More

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As I sit here and write this blog post about spring, I feel that I am missing spring.  Here in the northeast we seem to be having a never ending winter.  Yes, we have had a few days of warm sunshine.  We have been subject to various temperature swings – one day 50 and then cold, snowy / rainy days.  I know it’s spring because the daffodils and crocus are blooming (and something peeking out of the snow).

Because the calendar says spring, lets talk about your finances.  Now that tax season is over, it’s a good time to take a look at your finances and tackle these ideas:

  1. When was the last time you shredded your out dated paperwork.  Typically, after seven years papers can be tossed with a few exceptions.  Check with your tax preparer for your situation.  This is a good time to do this as many communities have a free paper shredding days this weekend for you to take advantage of.
  2. Did you learn something from filing your taxes?  Maybe you need to make adjustments to your paycheck withholding or to save more to be able to pay the taxes you owe.  Take a look at your finances and make the changes now.
  3. Where do your finances stand in relationship to your beginning of the year goals?  Maybe you set a goal to save a certain amount this year.  Are you one third of the way there?  We are about four months into the year, therefore you should be at 33% of your goal.  Are you on the path to achieving this goals? Do you need to make adjustments to your finances to achieve the goal?  Now is the time to take a look and make the changes needed, so you are not disappointed at year end.

Hopefully, the weather will agree with the calendar and spring will arrive soon.

Let me know what your spring finance projects are.

Spring Cleaning Your Finances & More

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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.

Reducing The Chemicals In Our Life

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I don’t know about you, but there seems to be more and more chemicals in my life.  They are in the food we eat, the products we buy, in our home and everywhere else.  It’s scary to me.

When I do something, I ten to jump in with both feet.

For our food, I cook most meals and purchase whole unprocessed foods for the meals I make.  I tend to stick to the outer aisles of the grocery store buying more fruits, vegetables, meat and fish (more so than the processed ready to eat food in the aisles.  We still have our garden in the warmer months for fresh just picked vegetables. I am experimenting more with new recipes / ideas to make.  Are we perfect, no!  But we are substantially better than a few years ago.

In our home, we have eliminated most toxic products in favor of healthier alternatives.  Using vinegar, baking soda, Castile soap with essential oils does the trick in our house.  Clean bathrooms, floors, counter tops and more with no more toxic fumes and they work great!

If you want to try or start, here are some great resources to learn more and to make your own products:

For more resources, please visit my resource page on my website JillRussoFoster.com

What do you do in your household?  Let me know

**If a link is an affiliate it will be clearly noted with ** so that you are aware that Jill Russo Foster may receive a percentage of the purchase price if you chose to buy the linked product. There is no difference in price to you.

Eliminating Expenses

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As I get older, I don’t need as many things and we continue to reduce and eliminate things and save the money.

This year, I have eliminated things in my business that I don’t really need – such as my efax and 800# (most of my correspondence is by email, so why pay for these services).  As you know, I have changed the format of the newsletter and eliminated another monthly service bill.  All this adds up to a savings.

For our personal life, we would rather have experiences versus stuff. I spent a good part of 2017 going through family photos, slides and movies ( a bug project that I should have done a long time ago).  We sorted and tossed. We sorted and gave to other family members. We sorted and scanned photos.  We sorted and had the slides digitized. We sorted and had the movies turned into DVDs.  We took numerous boxes, a file cabinet and slide carousels into a few photo albums and DVD’s.  All the photo are a back up hard drive and in a cloud (the ones we saved I don’t want to lose).

What can your reduce or eliminate to save you money?

Love and Money

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Valentine’s Day is a day when we exchange gifts, have a special meal and more with the person we love.  Usually all is well and life goes on. love and money

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.

Make 2018 Your Best Year Possible!

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Yes, I know it’s a busy time of year to add anything to your do to list.  As the year begins, it’s important to make time to complete this check list of items to make 2018 the best year possible.

Investment Accounts
Think about maxing out your 2018 contributions, especially if you have an employer match. You don’t want to miss out on the free matched funds. If you can’t max out, then add as much as you can. Now is the time to look at your investments, it may be time to re-balance and/or make changes to your accounts.

Health Insurance
Understand what your health insurance covers and what it doesn’t.  If you have a deductible to meet,if possible schedule your appointments so that you can afford the bills.  Remember you may be able to use your FSA (Flexible Spending Accounts) or HSA (Health Savings Account) to plan for some or all of these expenses. Your plan has a list of eligible items you can use the money towards.

Charitable Giving / Donations
If you itemize your taxes, make sure to discuss your charitable giving with your tax preparer as the new tax rules are in effect.

Starting the new year off right will help you throughout the year.

Paying For College – FAFSA

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It ‘s that time of year.  Your teens are making their college choices for the fall and all the excitement that goes with it. What school should they go to?  Will they stay near or go far? What will I need to do next?

First let ‘s start with the paying for college.  If you have the money saved for the cost of college for all four years (or more), then you can stop reading.  If not, you need to start or continue to figure out the finances.  FAFSA – Free Application for Federal Student Aid – is the first step.  Apply now, even if you don’t think you qualify – you may be surprised.

Here is a great article by Consumer Reports for financial aid that will tell you what you need to know.

Ask Questions

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January has been a month of me asking questions.  You may be thinking what is she talking about.  Lots of items came to light throughout the month that required more information.  Here is a sampling of what came up:

  • I was listed as a “non-owner” on our auto insurance.  I had no idea what that mean and had to do the research to find out more.
  • I received two bills one from the lab for bloodwork and one from doctor’s office for a physical.  It was my understanding that this was covered through my medical insurance as a preventative visit at no cost to me. Again, multiple calls and asking for my medical claims to be adjusted.
  • Receiving less than expected in a paycheck.  More calls to get to get to the bottom line
  • And the list goes on.

Never be afraid or think your questions aren’t worthy of an answer.  In my case, it’s my money.  Call and ask questions until you are satisfied with the answers.

For me, I was able to save money on our auto insurance after a lengthy phone call, the medical insurance company paid the bloodwork bill in full after appeal, the doctors bill was adjusted and I owed less than 50% of the bill and I am still working to understand resolve the paycheck issue.  So far, I with these questions we have saved close to $300. That’s worth my time and efforts.

Take Your Child To The Library Day!

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This is a great memory from my childhood.  I loved going with my mom to the library and taking out a book.  In fact, I still use the local library and read many books each year.

In honor of Take Your Child To The Library Day which is February 3, 2018, I am offering you a 20% discount on my book Cash, Credit and Your Finances: The Teen Years from now until February 3.  For $20.00 you can purchase a copy of my book directly from me, have it personalized to your recipient and it including priority shipping.  This is only available from my website. Click here to purchase.

Voted “Best Teen Book” by Radical Parenting Teen Team

The Perfect Teen Gift

Help your kids:

  • Cope with product advertising
  • Understand that credit isn’t magic money.
  • Develop strong short-term budgeting skills
  • Create a long-term financial plan

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?

Start your child off with the gift of reading and learning great money skills. Buy Cash, Credit and Your Finances: The Teen Years now!

One call saved $153.00

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Two weeks ago, we received our insurance renewals (auto, home and umbrella).  They arrived on the day of the snowstorm.  We lost phone, TV and internet, but not power.  So I read the policy information more diligently than I usually would.  (I am being honest).

I found a charge for $17.00 on the auto policy that I had questions about.  I made a call last week and discussed this with the company and after a long conversation, she found $153.00 worth of savings (more than the $17).  That’s a a little over a 12% savings on our policies and that much less that we have to pay in February.

What bill are you going to look into this week to see if you can save money?  Check you bills and question what you don’t understand.  You could save some money too!