Make Money and Save Money

Over the coming weeks I will be providing you with information on understanding your financial situation so you determine your short and long term financial goals. The overall outcome should be little to no debt and living within your means, don’t worry we will go slow and make the transitions as pain free as possible.

Today we are going to cover income and expenses; this is the first step to determining your future financial goals. I have prepared a  Personal Finance WorkSheet with instructions for you so you can better understand where you are at today. Just fill in your information and remember to be as accurate as possible while doing so.

Once you have the totals of both income and overall expenses subtract the expenses from income. Is your Expense more than 50% of your income? If you answered yes, a few decisions will need to be made on your part in order to begin making your future goals.

Wants versus needs; do you know the difference? Check out my previous post that discusses this topic for further reference. Determine what expenses can be eliminated that pose no threat to your overall well being; can you live without the second cell phone, do you need the Macy’s credit card? Honestly sit down and go over your worksheet, make a list of needs and one of wants. On the wants list pick one item that you can live without and set a goal to eliminate it in 30 days.

That is all I want you to do for now, as I said we want to do this as pain free as possible so there will be little temptation to give up. Included in the zip file from above are links directing you here and to my email, if you find the worksheet helpful bookmark this site. I will be releasing more worksheets with each installment of this topic series.

Sneak Peek of Pt 2: Setting and Reaching  short term goals. Not only will I help you set them, I will give you tips on how to reach them. Find out why it is okay to reward yourself for reaching your goals.

When I turned on my Yahoo browser today one of the highlighted articles caught my interest right away, “Seven simple tips for packing a waste free lunch” by Moms Joyce Raffo and Paige Rodgers creators of Fabkins reusable napkins.

I eagerly click the full story link hoping for another great article full of money saving tips. What I got was a bit of a disappointment and the feeling of being hoodwinked into spending money on their product. It was an obvious marketing ploy to push their creation and newsletter subscription.

I do agree  with a few of their suggestions like; reusing water bottles, buying in bulk and packing whole fruits. The suggestion of using small containers is a valid tip and although economical to a degree, I prefer to use zipping storage bags instead. You can get them in a multitude of sizes and you can add an ice pack to their bags with no fear of contaminating the food.

On that note I wanted to give you a few of my own tips for brown bagging your lunch. Economical, nutritious and fun ideas for your little guy or gal.

• Various sized zipped storage bags previously decorated by your child.
• Use leftovers that can be fixed as a sandwich: ham, turkey, chicken.
• Stay away from foods that should be refrigerated or heated for best taste.
• Sloppy meals like spaghetti and chilli should be avoided.
• Pack a nutritious yet varied meal; don’t go overboard and offer too many choices otherwise they will waste more than they eat.
• Avoid junk foods, this gives way for pressure to trade with other children. Offer them a special suprise inside like a small note or a few paragraphs of a book each day instead.
• Plan in advance and prepare the bags the night before; cut down on your early morning chaos.
• Use mayo, mustard and ketchup packets left over from your fast food meals (I know you have them we all do).
• Use your old receiving blankets cut into 4 by 4 squares for reusable napkins. If they lose them it is really no big deal.

Well, thats about all I can think of at the moment. I hope I offered some good tips that everyone can use.

Here’s an oldie but goodie from my one pot meal recipes; cheese and spinach casserole (yeah I know it sounds nasty but its yummy!). You need a large rectangle casserole dish for this one (you can make it on the stove top but it is so much better if you bake it) and a little Pam so it does not stick too much.

Ingredients:

• 1 can cream of cheddar soup
• 10 oz cubed cheddar
• 2 boxes of frozen spinach
• 2 lbs of uncooked pasta (any kind)
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 2 sleeves of Veggtable Ritz
• Mrs. Dash Table Blend for taste

Pre-heat your oven at 350 for fifteen minutes. Cut the cheese into 1 by 1 in cubes. Crush the crackers and mix it with 2 tbsp of Mrs Dash.

Cook your pasta until it is limp yet not fully cooked, 10 minutes on full boil should be enough. Soften the cream cheese with a fork and mix it into the noodles. Take the slightly thawed spinach and break it up throughout the noodle mixture and add the soup. Pour the noodles into the dish and spread it evenly.

Cook for 20 minutes. Pull the dish and place the cheese cubes evenly on top of the noodles and cook for another 15 minutes. Spread the cracker crumbs over the top and cook for another 15 minutes. Pull, cool and serve.

Your times may vary just keep an eye on the top of the casserole; you want it to cook evenly as well as melt the cheese completely. The crumbs should darken in color but never appear burnt. Hope you like.

 I received an award night before last from US Work From Home Free, I am stunned and so grateful. Here I thought no one knew about me, well enough about me time to pass this on to others.

Here are my ten nominees for this award:

A Poets View

Man In The Moon

The Daily Dish

The Costumer

Rocket Scientist

Paranormal World

The Daily Dose

ScrapGirl

Health by Dratiffarid

30somethingandsearching

Congratulations to all these winners. Share this opportunity with your favorite bloggers by doing the following:

1) Put the logo on your blog or post.

2) Nominate at least 10 blogs, which show great Attitude and/or Gratitude!

3) Be sure to link to your nominees within your post

4) Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.

5) Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received your award.

Meals are one of the biggest money suckers in my family, with ten people under one roof it is no surprise that I watch what I spend for each one. Ove the years I have experimented and honed the cooking craft, all the while looking for healthy, tasty yet cheap meals. My best friend in the kitchen goes hands down to my CrockPot, not only does it save me time it also saves me money.

Beef Stew

• 2 pounds of stew meat
• 10 medium potatoes
• 2 bags of peeled mini-carrots
• 2 large onions
• 1 stalk of celery
• Mrs.Dash Table Blend
• Seasoning Salt/Black Pepper

Add the stew meat to the CrockPot and add enough water to submerge the meat entirely. Cook on low until the water is mostly cooked off, add the seasonings, more water and set it to high. Once the meat is tender yet now falling apart add the carrots and celery, cook for another hour on high and add the potaoes and onion. Once the veggies are tender set to low once again, lift the lid slightly or remove it and let the water cook down.

Chili

• 2 pounds ground chuck
• 3 large green peppers
• 2 large onions
• 2 cans of kidney beans
• 2 cans of red beans
• 3 large cans of Mild Chili beans
• 1 can V-8 Spicy

Pre-cook the ground chuck on the stove-top, rinse with warm water and drain. Set aside. Cut your veggies and add them to the Crockpot along with the cans of beans and bottle of V-8 spicy. Cook on medium until green peppers are soft and add the meat. Cook for another thirty minutes and serve.

So many are giving self-employment a go these days and with the unemployment rate rising each day how could they not. When you are self-employed you work for yourself and are responsible for keeping accurate records of income and expenses. You are also solely responsible for reporting that income anfter exspense on your tax return, usually on a Schedule C.

Now there are deductions that are obvious to most and that includes the cost of your goods, if any; rent and utilities, if you operate outside of the home; buisness mileage and hotel stays, if your work requires traveling; and buisness lunches and phone bills.

Other deductions that are often missed can make a huge impact on your adjusted gross income and self-employment tax amount. These would include; tax preperation fees, if you filed on your buisness the year before and paid someone else to prepare it; insurance on your goods or space; employee pay (if you withhold taxes, provide the work area and tools and the job they perform is recurring, otherwise they would be a 1099 (contract) employee; one half of your self-employment tax is also deductible from your adjusted gross income.

If you go to a professional tax preperation service, odds are they will know which deductions you can and can not claim. Always keep immaculate records that are stored seperate from your personal records, and read up on current tax changes just in case that professional missed something you are eligilble to claim.

If you do your own taxes then make sure you make a quick stop at the IRS web-site to brush-up on changes and requirements

So I spend most of the year watching every penny I spend and planning every check down to the last streched dollar. I do this for stability, my childrens and my own. I want to give them everything their friends have but I know all too well how quickly a situation can turn and how fast you could lose everything. Christmas is special for my family, no I don’t force feed them full of toys and parties, we spend time together and learn to be a family.

Well, I saved over two-thousand dollars this year with my grocery coupons and rewards cards. I told myself going in that I would do all I could to save as much as possinle and that at the end of the year I would split it between the members of our family. Two-thousand dollars divided by eight people is two-hundred and fifty dollars a piece, not much to some but to us its a fortune.

My husband and I decided that the best use of this money was to put half into the childrens education and our retirement funds and the rest would be spent however each of wanted. I will now brag, my children begged for their own savings accounts, Yeah! I am so proud of them, hopefully this is an indicator that they will be financially wise and independant as they become adults.

Bankruptcy seems to be everyones fall back plan these days, if it doesn’t work out I can always file bankruptcy and start over. It is true that bankruptcy can be the difference between losing everything you have and giving yourself a fresh start to build upon, what they don’t tell you however is that it will cost you more than the legal and court fees.

I looked into filing bankruptcy, I even hired a bankruptcy lawyer; gave him a percentage of the final cost and paid for the required Debt Counseling. I went over my debts, assets and my possible tax filing situation and realized that bankruptcy was going to cost me more than I make in four months from my employment.

See with cancellation of unsecured debt you have the responsibily of reporting that forgiveness as income on your taxes. Not all debt cancellation falls into the reportable income, you could be in insolvent when you file (means that your total debts are more than half of the fair market value of your total assets, if you believe you may be eligible for this please seek the advice of a tax professional).

Now if you owned a home you could file using the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 to help offset the amount you will be taxed on. You can also itemize your deductions and include any medical bills that were payed off to bring your taxable income down further.

With all that being said, bankruptcy can be beneficial to some people you really need to scrutinize each possible alternative before you make a finite decision, this is your financial future we are taking about here.

Watch yourself during the days leading to Christmas, your potential to spend more than you should increases as the day draws closer. The retail stores spend billions each year surveying and test marketing to targeted groups determining what will entice you to spend in their stores. They know what you need to hear and see to pull out your pocketbook and wallets ready to hand over that last twenty dollar bill.

Remember all my previous tips; needs come first and wants can be put on the backburner for awhile. Bargain shop if you must spend and always remember to search for a coupon before you actually spend your hard earned dollar. Shop larger stores that offer low everyday prices and trully scrutinize the claim of a great deal, sometimes those deals have minimal impact on your purchase. Rebates and rewards are two of your best friends, they come in right behind coupons on your contact list.

Do not get caught this Christmas in that spend/hate cycle, instead go in with a plan and come out knowing you saved every penny possible.

Real estate prices are down, mortgage companys are bankrupting and the price of building materials and contractor’s fee are falling. This all spells huge savings for you, the homeowner, who is looking to complete needed repairs or update the pipes and wiring.

Donna Rosato, Money Magazine senior writer, offers an indepth article; How to fix up your House on the Cheap can be found on Yahoo!Finance(for some reason my link button is not working today so here is the address, http://biz.yahoo.com/hmoney/081203/111808_renovations_sale_moneymag.html?.&.pf=real-estate)

A few suggestions from me:

1.) Do major repairs and updates first.

2.) Research the possibilty of doing it yourself.

3.) Call in the experts for estimates and advice.

4.) Always buy quality over cheaper  materials that are easily comprimised.

5.) Keep in mind your future intentions(nothing like a hot pink room for your young daughter but if you plan on selling sooner rather than later a soft mauve might be a better color choice).

6.) Curb Appeal, curb appeal, curb appeal! Do not make the mistake of having the nicest kitchen in the neighborhood but your front yard looks like an abandoned warehouse (I know that was incredibly funny but I have found a few of these homes while looking for my dream home).