Every Day Finances

Get Organized

January is National Get Organized month.

What are you doing to get yourself and your space organized?

In my book, Thrive In Five:Take Charge of Your Finances In 5 Minutes A Day, January is the month to organize your bills. Now that the holidays are over, actually open up your bills and look at the bill details, don’t just pay them. Take the time to review them to see if it’s correct. Take the time to see if you can do something to save money, Take the time to see what competitors are charging – maybe it’s time to switch or negotiate. If you want to follow along, my book gives you action steps for each day of the month, so that this isn’t an overwhelming task.

We review our bills in our household each year and it never ceases to amaze me how much we can save. We stick to my 5 minute a day theme, take an honest look at one bill. We found that our gasoline credit card bill neglected to give us the $.06/gallon discount. It’s not much, but it is still our money. So we made a quick call and got the discount applied. All this in less than 5 minutes.

And because it’s January and following along with National Get Organized month, we have set up our new filing system for 2019 bills. Start the filing now as the year begins so that your don’t have paper piling up. All papers are filed and ready if or when you may need them.

If you want to learn more about taking charge of your finances and would like to purchase a copy of my book, Thrive In Five:Take Charge of Your Finances In 5 Minutes A Day click here.

Starting Off Your Finances For The New Year

Is one of your goals to take control of your finances this year? Do you want to get control and understand what you have and what you need? Do you just want to get your finances organized once and for all? Do you feel there are no more ways to cut your expenses? Is your goal to save more money for retirement or other goal? Whatever you want, January is always a good time to start.

If you want to take a quick look and here’s a few tips from Real Simple Magazine – 22 Smart Ideas to Take Control of Your Money.

For a more in depth look, my book Thrive In Five: Take Control of Your Finances In Five Minutes A Day is a great way to start your finances off with a quick suggestion for each day of the year. Each chapter is dedicated to one aspect of your finances. And it even includes catch up days to when there isn’t enough time to squeeze on more thing into your day. For more information or to purchase your copy, click here.

Double (Sometimes Triple) Savings

If you are like me you love to save. Getting something for less makes my day. So imagine if you could save even more. Well I have done great this holiday time.

I have shopped online and in person and saved both ways. Just yesterday, I found the item I have been looking for with double the savings. I have been looking for a great multi purpose day tote / carry on. It has to do double duty to carry all my items as a carry on (needs to be sturdy and have pockets) and it has to double as a day tote for shore excursions (to handle all that’s needed on shore) and zip closed. I have been searching and looking for months – at the outlets, at the famous tent sale last week and found it online this weekend.

I tell you this because I wanted this and I wanted it at a bargain. First, it was on sale for 40% off, then the site offered free shipping and easy returns – a must. Then I found an additional discount with Honey to make the saving even greater.

Another example, I purchased windshield wiper blades with a discount coupon at the auto parts store. They installed them for free which is also great. I came home a found a rebate offer on the purchase of two blades and immediately completed the online rebate. I do this online so that I can keep track of the rebate status.

Yes, I do this with most of my shopping year round. Double and sometimes triple savings with coupons, cash back /rebate offers and credit card rewards all add up to savings. How are you saving with your shopping this holiday season?

Increasing (or Starting) That Emergency Fund

Are you one of those people that sets a goal to have or increase your emergency savings fund each year. As we reach the year end, did you accomplish this?

An emergency fund is something that each and every one should have. If life hands you an unexpected expense and you really need to pay for this now, how will you handle this without that emergency fund? That unexpected expense can be a car repair, loss of a job, a home repair and more. These expenses typically come when you don’t have any extra money. If it’s something you need to do immediately, without this savings you will be adding debt to your budget. That’s where your emergency fund comes into play. If you have one, you wouldn’t have the stress of figuring out how to pay for it. That’s why you need to start or increase yours today!

Have you made your plan to start or increase your emergency fund? Don’t get overwhelmed thinking you need thousands of dollars now. Nobody starts off with thousands, think baby steps to increase your emergency savings with each and every pay check.

Steps to start your emergency fund:

Open a new savings account for your emergency fund – don’t link it to your ATM. debit card.
Set an amount to save each pay period – can you find $10 or more to save each pay period?
Set up automatic withdrawals from your paycheck – either through your payroll dept. or with your bank. Think pay yourself first attitude (you won’t spend it if you don’t see it).

Follow these steps to start out and increase the dollar amount at least annually. A good time to do this is when you get a raise at work – more money coming in, the more money can go to your emergency savings. Suze Orman’s suggests that everyone needs eight months in their emergency savings. That can be overwhelming, so let’s start with a goal of saving $1,000 in a year – you can do this as it’s on;y $20 a week.

If you haven’t started or at the level you want / need to be at, these are some great tips from WIFE – Women’s Institute for Financial Education to get you started.

Happy Savings!

Holiday Tipping

It’s that time of year and we are all faced with this issue. Today, I am rerunning this newsletter if hopes of helping you decide.

The holidays are coming! The holidays are coming! You probably know this and the retail stores are starting the holidays off during the summer. From Labor Day weekend, I see the holidays all over the place in retail stores. I’m thinking the beach and heat and they are thinking December. While it’s not bad to plan ahead and be proactive, it’s too early for me, but it’s never too early to think about your budget.

Tipping is always something that comes up around this time of year. Here are my thoughts and what we do.

First, we don’t wait for the holidays. In my opinion, good service doesn’t have to wait until the end of the year. If someone goes out of their way or does an exceptional job, then by all means tip them. A while back we bought dining room chairs and the person in the store took the time to go out of his way. That deserved a tip then and there.

Second, give what you can afford. While it’s nice to give cash and to be able to give to everyone, that may not work for your budget. You can thank people verbally and express your gratitude with a conversation, special note in a card, contact the company or supervisor and express the great service you received, instead of cash. I have made calls to the airline to express how grateful we were for a particular person and the excellent service we received. Rarely do companies get calls like this and they can seem shocked at the call.

This is my plan of attack. Create a list people in your life and here are some examples:

Mail Carrier / Package Delivery
Personal Care (Hair, Nails, Massage)
Child & Elder Care
Teachers
House Cleaner / Lawn Care / Snow Removal Care
Pet People (Groomers, Walkers etc.)
Doorman / Maintenance Workers
Assistants / Key Employees

Then make a plan. If you were to tip everyone in one week, you would break the bank. I like to start after Thanksgiving and end this by New Year. Now if you have decided on an actual tip, it can take the format of the cash or possibly a cash gift card, unless you know them well enough to pick a specific merchant’s general gift card. Spreading out the tipping, helps my budget. Plus, I like to do this in person. So when I have a service done, that’s the time I tip, and again throughout the year helps my budget as well.

Finally for cash tips, make a trip to the bank and get nice new crisp bills and have thank you or blank note cards. People who get many tips need to know who they received it from, so a short thoughtful note handwritten in the card works well. It always is so much nicer to give a tip with a good presentation. I feel that the recipient thinks you took the time to think about them versus handing them crumpled bills from your wallet.

Not sure how much to give? That’s entirely up to you. There are many guides on the internet to assist you, but ultimately it’s your choice. Make your plan now so that you check one thing off your holiday to do list.

Holiday Debt!!!!

Did you vow to not accumulate holiday debt this year!

According to Wallet Hub, the average person is expected to spend over $1,000 this year, that is up 4.1% over 2017.

What’s your plan to stay out of debt this holiday season? Here are some questions you need to think about?

How much can you afford to spend this year without going into debt?
How many people are on your list?
Can you eliminate or reduce the number of people? Think group gifts where you can pool your money with others.
Could you offer a service they need instead of a gift? What can you do that they need? Think childcare for an evening, so they can go out without the kids.

Take some time to think about what is important to you and your family. Don’t forget to think about your budget too. This is something that is really important so that you don’t have a January hangover. Everyone wants to celebrate the season, but no one wants someone to have all these bills come in January. Make a plan and stick to it.

Make sure you don’t fall off your plan with Black Friday this week.

Enjoy the holidays with your family and friends.

Are You Missing Money?

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

Last week the Secretary of State for Connecticut reported that 52,994 names were added to the unclaimed money list for the 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
Proceeds from a check not cashed
Unclaimed insurance polices proceeds

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 and the proceeds of an old life insurance policy my father.

When was the last time you checked? Don’t forget to check in every state you have lived in. Remember that there is no fee to claim unclaimed money. If you are asked to pay a fee – don’t.

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

Fourth Quarter To Do’s

Can you believe it, it’s fall and the year end is in sight! choices

For me, there is lots to do (and I am not thinking the holidays yet).

This time of year means it’s time to review my health insurance choices. Open enrollment for health insurance is here (or just a week or so away). Medicare is already in the open period, the state of CT will open up the 1st of November and many company plans have the open enrollment at this point too. It’s time to reevaluate and determine if I want to stay on the same healthcare plan or make a change.

If you have a FSA (Flexible Spending Account), start to look at the balance and determine how to use the funds. This is a use it or lose it type of account. You wouldn’t want to lose money, would you? If you have an HSA (Health Savings Account), have you maximized your contributions for 2018? This can be a great way to lower your taxable income. Make sure you pay all your eligible medical expenses with this account.

Take the time now to do your research and make the choices that are right for you and your family now.

We’re Back From Our Anniversary Trip

This year we celebrated our anniversary with a Pacific Northwest cruise.

Back in the early summer, I wrote two newsletters about planning our fall vacation. We are back and wanted to share the trip with you. Here’s the link to the two earlier newsletters – first and second issues to remind you of the details.

We took a Pacific Northwest cruise out of Seattle with stops at Astoria, Oregon, San Francisco, California and Victoria, BC and few days in Seattle too.

With all this planning and paying ahead, we spent very little on the actual vacation. Mostly everything was paid (or paid with points / miles) in the months before as our budget permitted – hotel, cruise, airfare, attractions and some meals were included. We selected hotels with breakfast included, bought City Pass’ (discount admission to attractions) and walked and/or public transportation. Lots of steps – over 21,000 in San Francisco in one day!

Yes, there was a lot of research and planning, but this step saved us money and we have fun – lots of money!

Here we are at the Space Needle. To view more photos, visit our Pinterest page.

Saving Money

I am always looking for ways to save money.

Some of the ways that can help you do this is to be on top of your finances.

Let me tell you what I recently did. We purchase a bark collar for the puppy and within a week, the battery was flashing low. Instead of going to the store to purchase a battery, I brought the receipt and all the original packing back to the store and explained the situation. The store manager gave me a replacement battery pack. Not only did I get the battery replaced free, they gave me an additional battery for the future.

Another example, I purchased something online that wasn’t what I expected. I was told there was a no return policy after opening. I explained that I did open it and that’s how I knew it wasn’t what I expected. After several emails back and forth, they agreed to a return minus the restocking fee. Yes, I am getting less than I paid, but it is most of the money refunded and it’s not another item sitting in my house, that I won’t use.

Sometimes you can advocate for yourself and get a resolution to the issue that is wallet friendly. Try it sometime.

Other ways to save money, you can stick with what you own and not purchase the latest and greatest new option. Our TV/Internet provider wanted to give us faster internet. The catch was it would be an additional $5 more per month. We said “no”. There is nothing wrong or slow with what we have now.

Savings a few dollars here and there can add up.