Jill Russo Foster

Tips for Successful Personal Finances

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Decluttering Your Financial Records

Since we have all been at home for months and doing things around the home, I thought I would rerun this appropriate newsletter about what you need to keep and toss for your financial records.

Here is what you can get rid of:

Paystubs – Do you have a stack of them?  You can get rid of last year’s because you have a W-2 that summarizes what you’ve earned.  Keep the W-2.  Make sure they match before shredding.

Bank Statements – If your bank gives you an annual summary or statement, then you can get rid of all the monthly or quarterly statements, but keep the annual summary / statement.

Tax Returns – Generally, you can get rid of tax returns that are seven years old or more (2013 and older) along with the supporting documentation.  However, you will want to check with your tax preparer if you:

  • bought, sold, and/or own a home
  • hold certain investments
  • received certain gifts
  • have any other special circumstance that requires you to keep related paperwork indefinitely.

In other words, check with your tax preparer before shredding your returns.

An alternative to paper files

Keeping your records on your computer is a great alternative to paper files. We had a lot of paper clutter hanging around, so I started the process of scanning my records as pdfs.  If you need a piece of documentation, it’s much easier to locate and open a single pdf than it is to search through a big, cluttered file full of paper. The best part is, that you don’t have to refile the pdf after you’re done looking at it. It’s also easier to fax or email a pdf if needed. Think of all the times you’ve needed to share information about insurances, taxes or rebates. Computer files are great to work with.  Remember to keep a back up of your files.  You wouldn’t want to lose them if your computer crashes.

Make sure to shred

Remember when I say “get rid of”, I mean for you to shred each and every document that has your personal information on it before throwing it away.  You don’t want to offer dumpster divers an opportunity to steal your identity.

Call your tax preparer to see what you need to keep and start to go through your paperwork to eliminate what you don’t need.  Happy Shredding!

Simplifying By Reducing

Yesterday, I told you what we did about the paper clutter.  Today, let’s talk about the other clutter that was in our home.

To be honest, we have simplified and reduce a lot, but we still have more to go.  We inherited many items from our families and I found that the sentimental items were the hardest to get rid of.  For me this was the hardest. But I have come up with a solution that works for me and maybe you too.

We purchased our families home.  And along with that came these items.  What was I do with them?  At first it was easily to toss many items. But then, I was left with the hard stuff.  Those sentimental items that I didn’t want to keep but didn’t want to toss either.  That was my dilemma.

This is what I have done to simplify the items in our house

  • My dad was a great athlete and had so much memorabilia.  First, I decided that I wanted to remember all of this, so I took photos of all the items I wanted to remember.  I have the memory and the photo now, so I was ready to get rid of the items.  But what could I do with these items, it didn’t seem right to toss them.  For his school memorabilia, I contact the schools and donated the items – yearbooks, sports uniforms, programs, pins, equipment, etc.
  • Nostalgic items was another category.  I purchased a book called Trash or Treasure and contacted collectors.  Here’s a couple of examples – I sold a metal toy to a collector for $500, I sold my mother’s cameras to a company in the mid-west, family china to a company that buys it for people seeking replacement items for their collections.
  • Boxes of newspaper clipping, from my fathers sports career.  Just finished scanning all of these while at home during the pandemic.

I am down to the last few items and then I will be done.   We have eliminated boxes and boxes from our basement and I am happy with where the items are now..

Simplifying By Reducing Paper

Do you find yourself swimming in paper?  We did.

There are things you need to keep (tax records, purchase receipts, home expenses and more), but there are the other things that we seemed to keep as well.  So much so that we had several files cabinets worth.

Over the past few years, our goal was to simplify and reduce the paper files we kept.  This is what we did:

  • Scanned  and digitized the family photos, slides and movies – this was a huge project
  • Scanned bank / credit card and investment statements
  • Eliminated manuals – we can look it up if we need to refer to this online
  • Scanned income tax returns
  • Scanned medical records
  • Scanned and organized recipes – this eliminated all the recipe cards from my mother and many cook books too

Now most files are scanned and backed up and the paper is eliminated.  It’s such a great feeling when there is less paper.  As an added bonus, we are down to one file cabinet.  We sold the other file cabinets for some extra cash.

Remember to check to find out what you are required to keep and for how long before getting rid of your paper.

 

My Journey To Simplify

After having time to reflect these past few months, I have come to the conclusion that I want to simplify my life.  I have too much going on and don’t want to run around at this hectic pace anymore.  If I have learned anything these past few months, it’s to slow down.  I have enjoyed our daily walks in the neighborhood, meeting new neighbors and just seeing the beauty of the area.  These little simple things are making me happy. 

What I realized is that I want more free time to do what we want when we want and not be guided by a to do list a mile long and what people expect of us.  So with that said, join me for the month of July and see what changes I am making.  Some changes will be with finances in mind, others will be my lifestyle. Stay tuned to find out more.

Tell me what you have done and that may inspire me to do the same.  Make sure to subscribe to my newsletter so see everything.

Financial Literacy Month – Tip #9

Selling

Here’s the tip from June 8 -Selling or Donating month:

There are many ways you can sell unwanted items. Possibilities include consignment shops, thrift stores, online selling or classified ads, tag sales and auctions. You need to determine first if you want to do all the work and have the time or is it best to delegate to someone else. Today you need to think about your situation.

To purchase a copy of either of my books Thrive In Five: Take Charge of Your Finances in 5 Minutes a Day or 111 Ways To Save

#JillRussoFoster  #30WaysToSave

My Year’s Recap

2019 has been a year of cleaning out for us.  We have eliminated lots of items from our home by recycling / tossing, selling, donating and more.  Each and every month we have gotten rid of items – everything from paperwork (which was scanned and originals shredded) to unused exercise equipment to streamlining our clothing.

Here are some of the specifics we did:

  • Donated formal attire to the local high school formal attire club, work clothes to Dress For Success and more
  • Sporting Equipment to the local sports drive
  • Books to the Library Book Sale fundraiser
  • Cell phones and accessories to Cell Phones for Soldiers
  • VHS movies to local senior living facility
  • Tools and ladders to Habitat for Humanity Restore
  • Old sheets / towels to the animal shelter
  • Electronics to the Salvation Army
  • Stuffed animals to the local thrift shop
  • Office supplies to several non-profits based off their wish lists
  • Clothing to the local food / clothing bank

Sometimes this seemed like a never ending project, but there has been much progress.  For more information and ideas on what to do with your stuff, please visit my Resources page.

Here’s to a more organized 2020!

What To Do With All Your Stuff You Don’t Need Anymore?

As you know, we have been cleaning out and organizing a lot of stuff this year.  I am really enjoying Joshua Becker’s book, The Minimalist Home

Here’s some of the things we have done this year and over the last couple:

We took a charcoal drawing my mother did many years ago and had it framed. Now it’s on display in our home, instead of the basement.

We took many books to our local library for their semi annual book sale fundraiser.

We took the old family movies and has them transferred to DVD’s.  We were so impressed that we did this with the slides and old photos to.  Then some of the original photos were donated to the local historical society for them to preserve.  One of the old photos was one that included Phil Rizzuto when he was very young.

We scanned many records and shredded the originals.   I wouldn’t want to lose those records, but I didn’t want to keep all that paper either.

As I have been working on this project weekends, I am always amazed that in our local paper there have been requests.  One week, there was a pop donation site for business attire, so we took over a bag of clothes.  Next, the local high school was collecting formal wear for the upcoming proms.  Another bag of clothes gone.  I really like it when I can donate items that someone else may be able to use.

We’re cleaning out the old electronics too.  We replaced a laptop and tablet late last year.  So it’s time to get rid of.  We sold an old printer on Craig’s List.  We donated a scanner with the help of the Cristina Foundation.  And so much more.

My resources page has lots of suggestions if you are looking to get rid of items.  In addition, here is a couple of great article from the New York Times’ What To Do With All That Stuff (Jan 27, 2019) and How To Sell, Donate and Recycle Your Stuff (Jan 11, 2019).

Digital Clean Out

Another part of my cleaning out, is tackling my digital life.

#1 – I get tons of emails.  Yes, I want to read all of the ones I subscribe to and have the best of intentions, but I don’t have then time.  I have started to go through the ones I really want to read.  I have started to clean out ones that I never signed up for.  I have achieved and deleted thousands.  I don’t want my life to be tied to the computer reading emails. So I have unsubscribed from many. 

#2 – I have updated my passwords.  When was the last time you changed them?  I make sure to use a different one for each site.  Yes, this can be challenging, but with the help of Last Pass, I can do this fairly easily.  They can tell me if I have a duplicate password and the strength of my choice.  They will even generate ones for me.

#3 – I have started to close accounts that I don’t use anymore.  Like everyone else, I have lots of accounts with my information out there.  I want to minimize this, so I am closing accounts.  For example, I have closed my account with a college text book company.  I finished my degree a couple of years ago and don’t have plans to rent or purchase another text book.  So that account is closed.  Now, more to go.  My theory is the less information I have out there, the less that can be compromised.

#4 – Backing up my stuff.  Many years ago, my office was broken into and my computer was broken into many pieces. Fortunately, I was able to hvae the computer restored and all information was salvageable.  Ever since then I back up my files.  I have a service that does this automatically for me every time my computer is on.  When is the last time you backed up your files?

If you haven’t done this lately, now would be a good time to look your situation.

Cleaning Out

As you know, we have been cleaning out.  So far this year alone, we have made nine bags / boxes of donations – with more to come.  Our library’s book drive is coming up later this month and we have two full boxes of books to donate.

Here is a great article from The Hartford Insurance about decluttering your home when you are downsizing (our in our case just getting rid of stuff).

If you like to donate your items (that are of good quality) and that someone may reuse, think about what organizations in your area are in need of that type of item.  For example, cleaning out your linens closet (towels, sheets, blankets, etc. – think animal organizations).  Most non-profits have a wish list of items they can use in their website.  Don’t forget there are other options, you can sell items and or simple recycle or toss out.  My resources page has some listing of organizations that might help you to get this part of your clean out started.

Do you have any organizations that you think would be a good fit for my resources page, let me know.

 

America Recycles Day

Thursday, November 15 is America Recycles Day!

I have always been someone who recycles.  My mom started me recycling when we were growing up.  That all I knew and we still continue to this everyday in our household. We separate our deposit cans/bottles to return to the store, we sort our plastic, metal and glass for trips to the town’s transfer station and we shred and recycle our paper items.

For those other items, we participate in special days throughout the year. Here are a few in our area:

  • Light bulb day – we are able to turn in used light bulbs for new ones
  • Prescription / Over the counter medicine – we turn in on that day of the year

And now, we have America Recycles Day this week.  You can turn in a variety of items in your local area.  For more details of what is available in your area, go to America Recycles Day.  In addition, Staples has make this day a week long event from November 11 to the 17, they will accept your old electronics and give you a coupon towards your next purchase (see Staples for details).

For more information on places to get rid of items, please check out my resources page for more suggestions.  If you have a place that you use that’s not on our list, please let us know.

If you want to reduce what coming in, here are some other great links:

Take advantage of this and other recycling days in your area.