Jill Russo Foster

Tips for Successful Personal Finances

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Teens and Money

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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 money, 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?

Make Your Money Grow

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Do you have the best bank / credit union accounts?   How can you tell which is best for you?

For your bank / credit union account, you want to earn the highest interest rate (paid to you) with no (or the lowest) fees.  Start by looking at what you currently have – how much are you earning and paying?  Once you know this information, you have a starting point.  Now compare that with what other’s offer.  Can you do better?  Don’t forget while looking compare both local, out of state and virtual banks / credit unions.  What would you have to do to eliminate all fees?

Keep in mind, that the bank and/or credit union you are looking at must (non negotiable) be FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.) for a bank or savings and loan.  Credit Unions are insurance through NCUA (National Credit Union Administration).  This protects your money up to $250,000.  Once you confirm this, then look at how you earn interest and what fees are involved before making your choice.

Personally, we bank both locally and virtually.  We earn interest on both our checking and savings accounts with no fees and do NOT have to carry a large balance in the account to do this.  So if we can do this, you can too.

Other quick tips, that may help you:

  • Don’t link your savings account to your ATM / Debit card
  • Set up automatic savings deposits with each and every paycheck (pay yourself first).

Remember, that every penny your earn or save is more money in your pocket.  Those pennies add up.

 

Ready To Make A Big Purchase

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We recently purchased a replacement car.  We bought my 1995 Jeep in September 1994 and we felt it  was time to get another car.

Here are the steps we took before making the purchase:

  • Started to look at cars to determine what manufacturer and model we were interested in (looking a pricing)
  • Reviewed our finances – how much can we put down as a down payment, how much can we afford as a monthly payment, etc?
  • Reviewed our credit to make sure all is well
  • Looked at car loan interest rates from several sources to determine rates and terms
  • Unfroze it to make it accessible to the lender for a car loan

All this took place over about a four month time frame.  Once we determined what car – brand and model, we did our online research for deals (the model and miles).  We wanted to be ready to move as soon as we found the car we wanted.  It had been a long time since we purchased a car, so we weren’t sure what we wanted in an SUV and we were open to most car manufacturers.  This made the search process long, but I knew when we found what we wanted we would be ready.

And it happened a couple of weeks ago, we found the perfect SUV for me.  A couple of years old (2016) with hardly any miles (less than 4,000), certified pre-owned and an extended warranty.  That was the car for me. Saw it on a Thursday and make the decision on Friday – all our preparation made us ready to go.  We picked up the car the following week.

Life Without Chemicals Or Harmful Additives

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I am on a mission to remove hazardous chemicals from our lives.  There are so many that appear in our lives without even thinking about it.  There are additives in our foods.  There are chemicals in our cleaners in our personal care items and food.  This is too much for me and we are changing how we buy things.  Reading the labels for ingredients.  Yes, it takes time, but my health is more important.

I buy organic foods and do a lot of cooking myself versus buying prepared foods.  I grew up with a family that lived farm to table lifestyle with a garden in the back yard for some awesome vegetables.  I still garden to this day. in fact, we just planted this years garden.  There is nothing better to me than picking lettuce and making a salad or picking a vegetable for a meal based on what’s ready to pick.  You can’t beat the freshness or the taste without any additives or chemicals.

In addition, we have been eliminating chemicals in our home too.  All those chemicals in the cleaners we used to use.  Not to mention the chemicals in our personal care products. Ugh!  We use products such as vinegar, baking soda and essential oils to clean and sanitize our home.  Young Living’s Thieves is what we use for laundry, dishes / dish washer / household cleaner and more.

When is the last time that you read the label on a product you regularly use in your household? Take one out now and see what’s in it.  It might shock you.

We are putting our money towards better options.  For more information check out these websites:

  • Environmental Working Group for a list of the dirty dozen and clean 15 fruits and vegetables.  Also, they have a list of skin care products with ratings to help you choose.
  • Food Babe – great information about what is in the food that we eat – it’s shocking.
  • Young Living – for non toxic cleaning and personal care products included the Thieves products in the photo*
  • Center for Food Safety – working to keep our food / environment safer

Once you read the labels, you will be shocked at what is in these products.  For me, it means making my own healthy versions for our home.  For example, condiments – we make our own from scratch.  I couldn’t find mayonnaise or salad dressing without partially hydrogenated oils and added sugar. Yes, it takes time, but my health is more important.

We are not perfect, but we are eliminating and replacing one product at a time.  It’s a journey and it will take time, but it’s one step at a time to a healthier lifestyle.

* We may receive a percentage of the purchase price if you chose to buy the linked products. There is no difference in price to you.

Off Season Shopping

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Now is the time to shop for your winter items – no, it’s not a typo.

You can get great deals on off season items now.  Think snowblowers, coats, heavy clothing, and so much more.

I saw a ski jacket I liked this winter. It was $200 – more than I wanted to spend.  I kept an eye on it.  In March it was reduced to $80 – not bad but I was hoping for more of a discount.  Well in May it was down to $60.  I was able to save $140 and get the coat I wanted for next season.  It pays to shop off season.  In addition, I will watch the price.  If it goes down more in the next 30 days, I will bring it back for a price adjustment for the difference.

This is just one example of shopping off season.  What are you thinking of buying?

Summer Travel For Everyone

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As we start to think summer, what are your plans?

Personally, we are planning a few day trips / long weekends.  One day trip in the works is to a concert that’s about 2 hour drive each way.  This takes some planning – checking out the route and plans for the concert – tickets, parking, the location, etc.  Our weekend away is for later in the summer, this involves more planning as it’s out of state to an event. Nver the less, planning comes into play here as well.

With all our plans (and whatever you are planning) for this summer, here are some tips for that road trip from The Hartford for everything from a day trip to driving in a foreign county to prepare yourself and your car to be able to plan ahead.

You need to consider – route maps, lodging, gas, lodging, admission fees, parking and more to work with your budget.  Options is what it’s about.  For example, route maps have come a long way from the paper maps to GPS to phone navigation apps – all are good choices, but require planning.  What’s your preference?  Doing your research ahead of time, helps you plan your finances and helps you to stay within your budget.

I’ll keep you posted on our summer adventures.  So what’s on your bucket list for this summer (and beyond)?

Where Did My Money Go!

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Do you ever get that feeling you are missing some money?

There is lots of unclaimed money in every state.  The unclaimed money list is a big list of names (individuals, companies, non-profits and more), that each state maintains from institutions that turn over money to them.  You may be asking why would an institution turn over your money to the state?  Good question, these are funds from accounts that haven’t had any activity in several years.  Here are a few examples:

  • An in active savings account – did you forget you had an account from when you were a child?
  • Proceeds from a check not cashed – did you lose a check a while back?
  • Unclaimed insurance polices proceeds – did your parents buy life insurance when you were born that was forgotten about?

This past weekend, I did a search for myself and members of my family. I didn’t find any results this time, but I have in previous attempts.  In the past, I found a few share of stock that I inherited from my mother’s estate and the proceeds of an old life insurance policy my father that my father must have forgotten.

When was the last time you checked? Don’t forget to check in every state you have lived in.  Search by your name(s) and for family members.  Remember that there is no fee to claim unclaimed money.  If you are asked to pay a fee – don’t.  You can do this yourself easily and there is no fee to collect unclaimed money.

Here’s an old article I wrong on this for more information click here.

Single Use vs. Reusable

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I grew up with a mother that recycled and composted, so reducing and reusing is in my blood.

Our town was one of the first town’s in the state to ban the single use plastic bags at stores.  They encourage you to bring your own bags.  If you don’t bring your own, they will give you a paper bag.  I personally keep my reusable bags in the back seat of my car, so that they are always available and with me.  Also, when buying one single item, we skip the bag and take the item without a bag.

 

 

In addition, we have been reducing our single consumption items in favor of reusable ones.  We are eliminating the plastic in our lives.  We have switched from plastic bags to reusable silicone bags and from plastic containers to glass jars (mason jars are a great inexpensive alternative).  We try not to purchase items in plastic instead looking for alternatives.

We now make our own cleaners in reusable glass jars – no more single use bottles from the store.  You can believe how inexpensive it is to make your own (besides not having a single use container to toss).  Baking soda, vinegar and essential oils can clean just about everything for a fraction of the cost of store bought cleaners.

We have eliminated the private trash collection service from our home and now take our own trash to the transfer station – we our down to one bag of trash per week.  This eliminated a $100 a month bill!  I love saving money.

Share with me what reusable things you do.