Every Day Finances

Money Habits To Avoid (Part 2)

This is part 2 of Money Habits To Avoid. If you missed part 1, please search my blog post.

3. Using Credit Cards to Get By — You know what I mean, you use your credit card because you don’t have the cash to purchase … This is a red flag if this is an every day, week, or month occurrence. Credit cards definitely havea place in your finances, but they are not the means to spending more than you can afford on a regular basis.

4. Discretionary Spending to Impress — This may have happened to you, I know it did for me when I was coming out of college. You are out with friends and you offer to pick up the tab. Maybe you want them to think you are doing better than you actually are, maybe you want to seem on par with your friends, whatever the case, no one expects you to pay more than your fair share. If you can’t afford to do something at this point, maybe you politely decline.

5. Emotional Spending — Just like emotional eating, emotional spending can be a problem. You are upset, and you go out and buy a …… Yes, you feel great in the moment, but did you need a … ….? Was it money you were planning on spending? Probably not. You know what you need to purchase, make a plan and stick to it.

Check out the next posts to find out the rest of the Money Habits To Avoid.

Money Habits To Avoid (Part 1)

In my opinion, there are seven money habits you want to avoid.

You may be currently doing these or have done them in the past (and I have been guilty of them myself), but now is the time to break the habits and get on with your finances.

Lending Money — I think we all did this at some point in our lives, whether it be loaning $5 to a friend and not getting paid back, or lending more. Not only does this put a strain on your finances but it can affect your friendship. Make a resolution to give up lending. If you want to help someone out, then make it a gift with no repayment expectations.

Spending It All — Yes, you know what I am talking about — living paycheck to paycheck. We all have choices we make with our finances — whether to spend this today or save for tomorrow. Budgeting is about choices that your make. So make the choice to not spend it all and save. Making this decision is the first step to starting to save and the next step is to actually do it (automate the savings process to make it foolproof).

Check out the next two posts to find out the rest of the Money Habits To Avoid.

College Money Choices

We all hear about the college students and the money mistakes they made while in college. I was one of them. This article from US News shares the top six mistakes and gives you ideas to think about. Read more

Spring Cleaning Your Finances & More

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:

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.
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.
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

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

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

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

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!

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

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.