As I have always said, money is about choices (that’s why’s it’s the title of my newsletter).  All money issues are about choices.  Should I spend money on this, should I spend it on something else or maybe I shouldn’t spend it at all.  The choices is yours.

With that in mind, I want to share with you what we personally don’t spend money or reduce our spending on in our household.  Some you may agree with and some you may not, but again it’s about choices.

Outside The Home:

• Yard work
• Spring and fall yard clean up
• Snow shoveling
• Gutter cleaning
• Power washing
• Rain barrel – we collect rain water and use this to water the garden and plants
• Compost Bin – we compost so we can fertilize our vegetable garden

Inside The Home:

• Cleaning
• Trash / Recycle to the transfer station (this is not included in our taxes, it would mean paying a private company)
• Movies / Magazines / Books and more – we use our library and the library apps (Hoopla lets us watch movies that we would typically have to borrow from the library, right on our TV without leaving our home)
• TV – we have reduced our cable TV to basic
• Bill Pay = we pay online through our bank and this saves us postage
• Greeting Cards – online as well (no more paper cards and postage)
• Mail – we have greatly reduced the amount of unwanted mail we receive over the years

Products That We Have Replaced:

• Dryer sheets with reusable wool dryer balls
• Plastic containers with glass storage containers / canning jars
• Cleaning products / air fresheners with vinegar, baking soda and essential oils
• Plastic Bags – our town has eliminated plastic bags in favor of a reusable bags (if you forget you can get paper bags from stores)

I have shared with you some of the things we do in our home.  For us, it’s not about the things.  We want to experience more – time with family and friends, traveling to new places to explore, meeting and making new friends and more.

Each winter, we clean out stuff.  We seem to accumulate so much during the year.  We make piles – some for donations, some for sale and some just to recycle and/or toss.  This year has been different.  We are really cleaning out, almost like moving or downsizing our lives.  We look at items and ask “do we need this”, ” what purpose does this serve” and more. This has actually helped us to make a decision.

For example, I got a screaming deal on a new winter coat – 80% off in January.  Instead of just adding to my closet, I donated two of my coats from my closet.  When we bring in something new, we at least get ride of another something (and maybe more).

Right now, I am reading Joshua Becker’s The Minimalist Home and working through this.  We are tackling the living room first (as he suggests).  We have sold our VCR / DVD, and our donating  VCR tapes and/or DVD’s to our local library’s book drive coming up in early March.  Really, how many times have we watched them?  How much money have we spent on these alone?  Time to rethink our spending habits.

Freeing up the stuff is also freeing up new energy / opportunities.  I can’t wait to see what is coming our way.

It’s that time of year when we start to think about taxes – gathering documents, looking at what can still be done to benefit you.

Now that it’s 2019, there are still some things you may be able to do to help yourself in 2018.

Don’t forget it’s not too late to make your pre-tax retirement contribution for last year. You actually have until April 15 to make your contribution for last year, if you haven’t maxed out your contribution for the previous year. This is turn could lower your taxable income and may turn owing on your taxes into a refund.

If you have a Health Savings Account (HSA), you may also be able to make a contribution for last year, if you haven’t maxed out your contribution amount for 2018.  Again, this may lower your taxable income and may turn owing on your taxes into a refund.

Ask your accountant what you can do now to see if you can benefit from this for last year. It never hurts to ask.