Make Money and Save Money

I have this mind set about money that tends to get me into some hot water with friends and family at times. I can easily recall a hand-full of “discussions” about personal finances that led to my close friends not speaking to me for long periods of time. See, I do not support frivolous spending and if asked my opinion I usually give it truthfully. I have watched too many stale situations go horribly wrong in very small amounts of time and this has caused me to be extremely frugal with my own finances.

Money is not something you should feel entitled to, by that I mean just because you work for it does not mean one should spend it any way they choose. If one has financial obligations like rent, mortgage and car payments one should pay them BEFORE one buys that new CD or pair of shoes. If one feels as if they need to choose between needs and wants then one should rethink their current employment. My advice to everyone and anyone will always be: Pay for your needs first, if you have money left over pick up that CD. If you do not make enough money to pay for your needs, then choosing to not pay for those necessities will only make the situation worse in the long run.

Think about this one; bills grow over time if not paid but that CD will become cheaper as time passes. Sure, you may not have bought it when you wanted it badly but at least you still have hot water.

My stance is even hardier if one has children, never should one think of themselves before ones child when it comes to finances. That does not mean I think a child should be financially spoiled. If ones child needs glasses and one decides to purchase a Playstation 3 instead of improving the child’s eyesight, I see that as an ultimate example of selfishness and poor financial judgement. Skipping the water bill to splurge on fast food is in my own opinion almost neglectful when one has children.

Sorry for the tirade today, I have been bombarded with poor me sob stories lately that come to light later being an example of wasted money and twisted financial thinking from adults who should know better. In the end they had the money to pay the bills and decided they worked for that money hence they should be able to blow it if they want and should have no negative consequences.

I know I have been quite over here for a few days, what with my work schedule and the PC recovery I performed this week I just seem lost in update land. I want to address the fact that most of my posts on taxes are US specific; I am not forgetting that many readers are from different countries I just need to do my research before I feel comfortable posting contry specific information. I am currently looking into Canadian income taxes and will share helpful links as I put a few more together.

I don’t want to share a site unless I am comfortable that they share relevevant and helpfull information. At the moment I am surfing and saving links as I come across them, my next country to research will be Germany.

I will release the second part of my Financial Planning series as soon as I complete the worksheets I want to share.  I will also be posting tips on tracking your self employment records easily and accurately. I plan to create a few worksheets for you that will help make it simplier to track your income and expenses with a tutorial on how to use each one.

I just worked a thirteen hour shift as an office manager of a very busy tax service and will be working 77 hours a week for the next few weeks. I am excited yet a bit overwhelmed at this point people are streaming through the doors eager to get an early start this year.

I have a feeling that this season will be one of the busiest and profitable ones for the banks that fund the loans that are offered through many tax services. So many need that money as soon as they can get and they are shrugging the expense away due to necessity.

The economy (I know can we not find something else to talk about) feeling as shaky as it is right now tends to make people nervous and wary. This time of year is one alot of wage earners look forward to all year long. They tend to overspend during the holidays almost banking on their tax returns to pay it all off. I think it might be time for a change in thinking, especially for me. I need to stop thinking of it as a fresh start and start thinking in terms of “What if there were no tax refunds?”.

Here is the main reason I do not list the pay to click sites that I particiapte in, they are not reliable avenues of income. This site was paying me 1 cent a click but only allowed me 4 clicks per day, I was at $3.86 when they closed down after the Holidays. I will never see that money and neither will anyone who had earnings when they shut down.

This is just one of many pay to sites that I have watched come crashing down and take everyone’s earnings with them. One site, can not think of the name right now, was closed down within a week of lauching. This is just one of many reasons I prefer to use Traffic Exchanges over pay to click sites.

Some Traffic Exchange sites offer you cash prizes and bonuses for active surfing, as a matter of fact I have earned over $30 using a hadfull of exchanges. I always convert my earnings to traffic credits, it is just the smartest avenue for me.

I am not one to get into the political side of anything, I do not like politics and I do not trust anything to do with political figures. I am reasonably intelligent and I can say I know more about politics than most of my friends (hubby  makes sure I am well educated in that department), usually my main interest in politics and law changes focuses on income taxes.

I watched the news this morning, there was my first mistake I guess, and what I heard has actually angered me. The Federal Commission wants to raise the gas tax, we finally get a break from the disgusting gas prices this war and greed have caused and they want to punish us for our conservatism.

They say because the funding for road repairs and other transit projects have decreased due to motorists driving less, they need to increase the tax to compensate this deficit. What? If we are driving less does that not cause a reasonable decrease in the amount of wear and tear on the roads?

They are proposing a 10 cent increase for gas and a 12-15 cent increase for diesel all in the name of keeping our roadways driveable. The gas tax rates are already at 18.4 cents and diesel is at 24.4, with the increase don’t they foresee a bigger decrease in travel. I for one did not drive anywhere I did not have to when the gas prices where up, and I doubt I will travel much with the increase to the tax.

They want to hit us where it will hurt and then they want to complain about the economy going to pot, who is going to spend on consumer products when they can barely afford gas to go back and forth to work?

This will affect more avenues than they have considered. What about the minimum wage workers who have children? Already their paychecks are eaten by the cost of transportation and childcare. This will cause an increase of welfare applicants which always seems to anger taxpayers who do not receive it. What about the retirement community who already have to work to make ends meet? Small buisnesses will take a major hit, their costs will go up so our cost will go up and few will walk through their doors.

So many will be impacted negatively by this proposed increase, will they care to listen? Will they consider the working class individuals that earn lower pay? Will they consider the dual working families who struggle to make it even with two wage earners?

I often joke that I will be the first female president and that my platform will be Free Gas and Utilities for All, for it seems only those lucky enough to own those conglomerates are making money these days. If we did not have to pay for these necessities we would have more money to sink into consumerism, this would cause the economy to rise and more jobs to be produced. Well it makes sense to me.

The day they put a price cap on gas is the day they quit buying oil from overseas and start using our own reserves, as you could surmise this is unlikely to happen until the suppliers overseas run out. I guess I can understand their thinking in this endeavor, buy and use everybody else’s until it is gone then make them depend on us for it in the future. Hmm, United World of America anyone?

It is New Years Eve, for me I have forty six minutes until 2009 officialy starts. This year my only resolution is to secure my families financial future. I vow to open savings accounts for eah of my children and grow it by fifteen percent by the end of the year. I vow to start putting money into a retirement fund for my husband and I. I vow to spend wisely and earn vigorously.

The economy tonight is shaky as it has been for what seems like forever and nothing is certain. When large icons like Ford and Chevrolet need to be bailed out by the government one tends to become a little aprehensive about what tomorrow may bring. I do not want to be in the percentage of of that find ourselves struggling to live day to day, I must provide stablity for our children.

Tomorrow is almost upon us; the first day of the new year has come so fast. My lists of goals have been pinned to the bulletin board and I have hundreds of possible solutions running loose in my head. By this time next year I will have my finances under control, they will NOT control my life anymore.

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.

 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.

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.

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.