Financial Independence Part 1

In honor of Independent Day/Fourth of July, I want to talk about many people’s ultimate goal of financial independence. According to Wikipedia, financial independence is described as “generally used to describe the state of having sufficient personal wealth to live, without having to work actively for basic necessities. For financially independent people, their assets generate income that is greater than their expenses”.

Yes, we all probably want this and therein lies the problem. How do we attain this?

There are some generally agreed upon principles that are good practices that we all should attain to:

Avoid consumer debt
Spend less than you earn/Pay yourself first (save)
Don’t keep up with the Jones’

These are all great suggestions and work really well, but what if you need to work on some of these steps. In my opinion it all goes back to budgeting. Budgeting is the road map of your finances. You can see where your money is going and then make the necessary steps to eliminate consumer debt, reduce your spending, save by paying yourself first and break your habit of keeping up with the Jones’. It may sound simple but it isn’t. So with this issue and the next three I will tackle these issues.

Today, let’s look at avoiding consumer debt. This can be difficult to attain. But on the other hand, this is so important – too important not to strive for.

There have been times in my life that I have had more debt than I would like to admit. Yes, this happens to me too. In my opinion, there are two steps to start on the path to being debt free. First, you have to stop creating debt. Yes, you heard me. You need to do whatever it takes to avoid adding more to the debt. With that said, you can’t put every extra penny towards your debt and not have an emergency fund. Otherwise, the next time an emergency happens and you don’t have a fund to fall back on, you will create more debt.

In May and June, my husband had surgery and was home from work for a month without pay. We only had about 6 weeks’ notice to plan for this. We got through this period with the help of the emergency fund and savings to cover the shortfall. This was the key to us being able to live and pay the bills. Without the savings to fall back on, we would have had to use credit cards and create debt. So you can see how having an emergency savings plays a big part in getting rid of debt.

Back to the debt. Second, there are many ways to tackle this. Start by taking an honest look at your all your debt. Make a list including how much you owe, the minimum payment, interest rate, etc. I understand this is hard, but it’s necessary.

Now make the plan. You can payoff the smallest debt first to eliminate one debt (gives you momentum). You can payoff the debt with the highest interest rate (saves you money). You can plan to get more money (bringing in more income) with many options to add to your payment. Take some time to brainstorm what will work best for you and then put that plan into action.

You’ll need to stop creating additional debt and to create or increase your emergency fund. Next issue, I will discuss spending less than you earn/pay yourself first.

Save

Save Money By Packing Light

Saving money is all about packing right and light. First, I have several packing lists – one for clothing, one for a vacation that includes cooking and one for cruises. Then I select a color theme, so that all can be mixed and matched to create multiple outfits.

First you want to know your airlines regulations – do you have to pay for checked luggage, what are the dimensions and weight limit that you are allowed? Not knowing this can cost you money. So packing within the rules always helps my wallet and it’s the way clothing can be mixed and matched to make more outfits out of less. For example, the red sweater can go over an outfit and/or be a top. The black pants can be casual with a golf shirt and can be dressed up with a blouse for an evening. Everything in my suitcase does double duty and that way I can carry less.

If I buy souvenirs / gifts, I have two different ways to do this. If we are in the US, I stop at a post office and use a flat rate mailing box and ship the items home, so that I don’t have to do a lot added carrying. We did this while in Alaska and shipped items home before we boarded the cruise ship. If I know I am going to be buying gifts, I pack a small collapsible suitcase inside my suitcase and then I have an additional suitcase to carry those new items home.

My actual clothing packing involves the color theme. I select pieces with these colors so that all can go together to make multiple outfits. Those black pants can be paired with a t-shirt by day for exploring and at night with a dressier top for dinner. A beach cover up can get from the pool in the day to an evening with the right accessories. That’s how I can pack in one suitcase even for two week trips.

All this starts with planning what you will be doing and buying before you leave for vacation.

Negotiating Medical Expenses

I am pulling back the curtain and showing you how I negotiated discounts on my hand surgery.

Back at the end of last year, I needed to have a medical procedure. It wasn’t urgent, so I chose to wait until work slowed down and my out of network deductible was met and I had vacation time to use. I wanted to use my doctor, whom I know and trust. We have been patients of the practice for years, and he has done a few surgeries for the family, but he was out-of-network.

I have admit that insurance sometimes baffles me, but I was bound and determined to figure it out. After discussing the details with my doctor, I chose to have the procedure at the hospital’s surgery center – which that cost was in-network. First step done easily and I wouldn’t have to pay for anything.

Next, I contacted the surgeon’s business office to discuss the fee. I knew I would have to pay something and the 80/20 isn’t really 80/20. I had a lot to learn here. I learned that an out of network provider doesn’t have to get prior approval from my medical insurance, so they couldn’t tell me what I would owe ahead of time. They could only tell me the surgeon’s cost. Then to understand this better, I spent well over and hour on the phone with a really helpful person at the insurance company. I found out what the insurance would probably cover – that was actually about 58% of the cost – not really close to the 20%. I was now two business days before the surgery and still trying to figure out if I have the money to pay my part or was I going to cancel the surgery at the last minute.

Lastly, I learned from my insurance company that I could be responsible for the anesthesiologist as well, if they were out of network. I contacted the surgical center and was given the number for the anesthesiologist and contacted them. Since they were in network, this step was fairly easy. But, they did bill me for the full amount after the surgery. So back on the phone with the insurance company to straighten out this bill, that I wasn’t supposed to pay for.

Now I still had to deal with the surgeon’s fee. I decided to contact the doctor’s office and explain my situation. I really wanted to the have the surgery and I wanted it with that doctor, but I was struggling with the portion of the fee that I would have to pay. (My portion would have been a couple of thousand dollars) After 24 hours, the office got back to me, and the surgeon reduced his fee to a number I was comfortable with and that I could afford. Yes, this took a lot of effort on my part but my budget said thank you.

Bottom line, you can negotiate with all types of services and possibly come to an understanding. I did it this time, with several calls and a few hours of my time. For me this was worth the time and effort, to end up paying a few hundred dollars, a number my budget liked.

Stretching Your Dollars With Discounts

Are you looking to s-t-r-e-t-c-h your dollars with a discount? Here are some ideas you may not have thought about:

1. Free food on your birthday – many restaurants offer you something on your actual birthday (some during your birthday week).

2. Using your situation discounts – I am talking more than senior discounts. There are others such as military, memberships, student, government worker, etc. I have used my student discount for admission to museums, my senior discount to pay less for hotels and more.

3. The day after discount – if you shop the day after a holiday you can usually receive a 50% or more discount on those items. Think more than wrapping paper and greeting cards the day after Christmas, there are other holidays throughout the year.

4. Double dipping your coupons – some stores will let you use multiple coupons for the same item to get an even bigger savings. I have used the case price discount and a manufactures coupon for items on sale to save even more.

5. Don’t forget to ask for price adjustments and coupons. It never hurts to ask if there are any other discounts or coupons available at the checkout. Sometimes a sales person has that ability to give you even greater savings. If you get a coupon after the purchase, go back and ask for an adjustment for the original purchase within a certain time limit.

6. Remember to buy off season. With the particularly warm month of December here in the northeast, winter merchandise seemed to go on sale even earlier. When you buy a snow blower in the spring or swimsuit in October you can save money.

7. Sign up for emails (remember to use another email address) as there can be many emails to deal with. Companies offer coupons and discounts to their subscribers.This works for more than products, I have received discounts for concerts too. You can also try leaving items in the cart without checking out. Sometimes they will email you with a discount to place the order.

8. Free Stuff – there are so many special days in a year it’s impossible to keep track of. National days such as donut day will give you a free donut, ice cream day etc. National Parks days throughout the year will waive the entrance fee. You can get some prescriptions filled at your local supermarket for free. The list goes on and on.

Let me know what you do to get discounts and free stuff.

Saving For Retirement

We all want to save for retirement, but there never seems to be enough money left over to save. Does this sound familiar?

The first rule of saving for retirement is, if you are offered free money take it. If your employer sponsored retirement plan offers you matching funds, take it. Contributing to a retirement plan through your paycheck is a great way to get started on the path of regular automatic saving. The earlier you start this habit the better off you will become. On the other side if you haven’t done this, it’s never too late to start now. In this case, free money is a good thing

Next you want to manage your debt. Debt is the enemy to your budget, so you want to avoid it at all cost. I am not saying don’t borrow or use credit, what I am saying is to use it wisely. Don’t become a slave to your debt and that you live paycheck to paycheck trying to keep up with your debt payments.

Charge wisely and only amounts that you can pay off easily. If you find yourself with an emergency and you have to borrow money, evaluate your options and make the choice that is best for you and your budget. Pay back the debt as quickly as possible to avoid as much of the finance / interest charges as possible.

Lastly, gratification – are you someone who needs instant gratification? Do you buy without a payback plan? Look at the food cost (groceries, dining out, take out etc.), shopping, memberships, entertainment etc. These are the expenses, that where the instant gratification that can harm your budget. These are the first defense against the leaks in your budget. Plug those holes to have more money for your retirement.

Think about your finances then make a plan to implement these strategies one by one. Once you master one, start the next. Remember that your finances will not change overnight, be patient and remember it takes time.

How To Save Money AND Get Dinner On The Table Fast!!

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From guest contributor www.VickiHeise.com

I’m often asked how I put together quick meals and save money on food. I cook at home and prep ingredients early in the week, so that meals go together super fast. At the end of the week, I use the bits and pieces of leftover veggies, meat and grains to make a quick frittata or soup.

By taking a little bit of time to do some home cooking, you can save money and feed you and your family delicious meals that go together quickly. Check out these 4 tips that you can start using today!

KEY ~ Feed Your Body
How To Save Money AND Get Dinner On The Table Fast!!

Did you know that not only can you save money by cooking at home, but it doesn’t have to be complicated? If you think you don’t have time to add another thing to your to-do list, with a little planning you can not only save money, but feed your family great tasting nutritious food and not spend lots of time in the kitchen.

Here are 4 tips to get you started:

Use whole foods. Buy whole foods, the ones you find around the outer edge of the grocery store. That’s where you’ll find the fresh herbs, fruits, vegetables, meat, chicken, fish and dairy. Add some things from the bulk bins like grains, beans and nuts (a huge money saver) and if you’re really pressed for time get some canned beans and frozen vegetables.
Prepare them simply. You don’t need lots of recipes with long lists of ingredients. Save the complex, full of ingredient recipes for when you have the time to enjoy the whole cooking experience.
Make large batches ahead of time of the things that take a while to cook like beans, grains and rice. Yes they do take time, but it’s on the stove cooking time, not you actively being involved time. By making these ahead of time, you’ll have ingredients ready when you get home so you can quickly put all the pieces for dinner together. If you’re making soup, make extra to so you’ll have leftovers for lunch or dinner the next day or later in the week.
Prep and freeze ingredients to save time later. What do you use often in your meals? Onions, peppers and other veggies? Chop these and put them in meal sized portion freezer bags. You could even cook bacon and freeze it to use as a garnish in recipes. When you’re ready to cook soup in the crock pot, just take out what you need and you’re ready to go! Also consider freezing meat, poultry and fish in meal size portions. My husband and I have different tastes, so I’ll freeze individual portions of beef and pork for him and fish for me. It makes for a drama free meal!

10 Minute Scrambled Eggs

I love making budget friendly 10 Minute Scrambled Eggs for dinner, using one pan and some freezer ingredients. There’s no chopping or prep time!

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~ Saute frozen peppers and onions, in a bit of coconut oil.

~ Add frozen, already cooked, chopped bacon, then fresh or frozen spinach until it’s wilted.

~ Finally add the eggs with a bit of cheese if you want, and scramble it all together.

~ Serve with a favorite fruit and a piece of toast.

This is a dish that you can easily add in bits and pieces of leftovers from the fridge too.

Take a little time to plan ahead to save yourself time and money starting this week!

If you’d like other recipes ideas, you can check out over 1000 of them on my Live Your Healthy Life’s Pinterest page.

If you’re looking for weekly ideas to Live Your Healthy Life, you can sign up to receive my weekly email newsletter.

www.VickiHeise.com

How to painlessly cut the cost of necessary expenses

Do you feel like you’ve cut your expenses to the bone – that there’s literally nothing else to cut? I want to challenge your thinking on that. Have you looked into what I call the necessary expenses (things that you need or are required to have) to try to get a discount or find a cheaper supplier?

This is what I did for our household:

I contacted our electric company and went from 15¢ to .08¢ per kilowatt. This saved us $40 the first month alone. Now I have reminders on my calendar to check before the next possible rate change in 6 months.

I was contacting our credit card company about a dispute issue and they asked if there is anything else they could do for me. I responded, “I would love a lower interest rate.” They immediately reduced it by 2%. Yes, sometimes it can be as easy as that.

I called our cell phone provider to pay a bill (normally I pay online, but my computer had crashed) and they said they could lower our bill by $20 per month because of our loyalty – without me even asking! Another $20 back in our budget.

If you want to try lowering the cost of your necessary expenses, always be polite and ask simple questions, like….

Why did my bill go up?
What are my options for reducing my bill?
My budget doesn’t allow for me to pay this, what can we do to reduce the cost?

All these little savings add up to more money in your pocket. If you can’t reduce your bill, shop around and see what’s out there. Then, bring your findings back to your current providers to see what they can do.

Let me know how you do.

Plant something!

Welcome to our May Blog Hop!

This month we are so excited to help you in your business and life. You’ll find fabulous articles, how-to’s and resources for you today that have helped each consultant, blogger and business owner on the hop in their own lives and businesses. Get ready to be inspired for a wonderful month ahead of you as you move along through the blog hop.

You may just be starting the blog hop or may have come from 3. M. Shannon Hernandez at The Writing Whisperer on Natalie Bradley’s Blog Hop. If you get off track at any time, the full lineup below will help you move along from blog to blog so you make sure to see and learn from all of the articles featured here today.

Plant Something!

I was brought up with a family that had a backyard garden. Especially now when I am making a great effort to eat more fresh and locally grown food, the garden makes sense. The garden my grandparents had when I was growing up took most of the backyard. Unfortunately, that doesn’t work for me. I have to keep mine small so that it’s something that I can manage and is not too overwhelming for me. I usually start around March with seeds inside (although in some years I buy plants in another month), but you can start your seeds outside in May!

Go ahead and try it. You can have a garden in your backyard or a container on your deck – whatever works for your situation. You can grow whatever appeals to you, from herbs to tomatoes. There is nothing better than going out and picking what you want to eat when you are ready to eat it.

You are probably thinking, “What does this have to do with saving money?” Lots! The more you grow the less money you spend at the grocery store.

Lettuce is a very easy vegetable to grow. Put seeds in the soil and within two weeks you have lettuce for your salads. No more buying lettuce at the grocery store, or wanting a salad only to find out that the lettuce in your fridge is bad. You pick the lettuce leaves as you need them.

Think about what you would like to grow today.

The next stop is 5. Deb Brown at Touch Your Client’s Heart on Natalie Bradley’s Blog Hop! Thanks for visiting and I hope to see you again next month!

Blog Hop participants lineup:

Natalie Bradley at Natalie Bradley Consulting
Rochelle Togo-Figa at RTF Coaching
M. Shannon Hernandez at The Writing Whisperer
Jill Russo Foster at JillRussoFoster.com <<– you are here!
Deb Brown at Touch Your Client’s Heart
Vicki Heise at Vicki Heise ~ Live Your Healthy Life
Kim McDaniels at iBiz Design Duchess
Robin Hardy at Integrity Virtual Services
Heidi Kleine at Worth it Woman
Ronda Neufeld at Ronda Neufeld Relationship & Life Coach

How to Get What You Paid For

I have always been the kind of person who stands up for herself. It’s just something that I learned to do early on, and have gotten better at over the years.

What does it mean to “self-advocate?”

When you have a legitimate issue that is fixable, and you take it to the next level by contacting customer service or a manager, you are self-advocating.

By “taking it the next level”, I mean communicating politely. It doesn’t mean going all Liam Neeson on the issue.

Here are three examples of what I have been able to accomplish with a phone call:

1. I purchased a certain service while on vacation and felt mislead. The written description did not explain the service properly. If I had understood what they were saying (the way they meant it), I wouldn’t have bought it. So, I filled out the online survey and asked that the company call me. When they did, I explained what I understood the service to be and they clarified what it was supposed to be. After advocating for myself and politely saying that I didn’t think it was worded properly, they gave us a free dinner for two in a specialty restaurant the next time we sail on that cruise line.

2. I purchased a massage through a discount website but was unable to reach the massage therapist. I contacted the website and asked for assistance in getting a.) the appointment or b.) a refund. Everything was settled to my satisfaction, because I kept records of my attempts to contact the therapist (date, time of call and response).

3. I received a medical bill in the mail for services that were not covered by our insurance, months after the service date. I contacted the billing company to ask why they waited so long to bill me. They explained that they had let the billing person go and that they were behind in the billing. I explained my case, which was we have changed insurance companies since the time of the appointment and I didn’t know if I could go back and dispute the insurance claim since this was several months before. In addition, the H-S-A account we had with that insurance was now closed. We compromised and settled the bill for an amount which we both agreed was fair.

What you need to stand up for yourself

1. The will and desire to get what you paid for.

2. The ability to stay polite and calm. I can’t stress this enough. This isn’t about ruining someone’s day or getting something extra. It’s about establishing the facts – did you, or did you not, get what you paid for?

3. Documentation – What was purchased and when (a receipt is great), what is the issue, how often and when have you contacted the merchant.

If you are doing online chat with customer service, make sure you keep a copy of the chat transcript. I recently learned that if you are dealing with a merchant who records your calls, you can and should get a recording reference number as additional documentation. Even I can learn something new.

It doesn’t always work

You will never know if you don’t try. I think you need to try to get an amicable resolution that is fair to you and the other party. If not, you can always avoid that service in the future, or leave a negative (but fair) review.

For the Price of a Text Book…

Some of you may know this already, but I’m taking a few classes to finish my degree. For those of you going to college, have a child in college, or about to go to college, this may help your wallet.

I have talked about the cost of text books before, but this was my first experience as an adult in today’s market.

I took a class this summer. The textbook was $60 used or $40 for a rental. Thinking I’d like to keep it for future reference, I decided to buy used. Imagine my shock when I discovered that the college bookstore didn’t carry the textbook for a class the college was offering. I had to prepay and have it ordered in.

After the class was over, I was shocked again when the bookstore wouldn’t buy it back. The college is offering the same class with the same book, so why not? Wanting to recoup some of my costs, I sold it online for $11.75 (postage was paid by the publisher).

Now I am taking my second class and that textbook was substantially more – $200 to buy new and $100 to buy used. I did my research and checked a number of websites for the best deal (remember to search by the ISBN number to get the correct edition). I decided to rent it for $40. On the first day of class, the Professor mentioned that we could have used prior editions. Knowing that ahead of time would have saved me a lot of money.

Lessons learned:

1. Don’t shop at the college book store.

2. Compare prices (new, used, or rental) from several online retailers.

3. Check for digital editions depending on your learning preference.

4. Plan ahead so you don’t have to expedite shipping. The cheaper the shipping the better the deal.

A couple of hard lessons learned that I will put to good use for the remainder of my classes. Textbooks are expensive. Learn from my mistakes to cut a nice chunk off of college costs.

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I am pulling back the curtain and showing you how I negotiated discounts on my hand surgery.

KEY ~ Feed Your Body How To Save Money AND Get Dinner On The Table Fast!!

10 Minute Scrambled Eggs

Plant Something!

Blog Hop participants lineup:

KEY ~ Feed Your Body
How To Save Money AND Get Dinner On The Table Fast!!