Even if you have read this blog before I encourage you to read it again if you are paid by the hour. I have updated the dates for your “extra paycheck” for the year and it will be a great reminder of your pay schedule. This blog fits under II. a. ~Hourly wages of our outline. And yes, I know how to correctly do a formal outline, however blogger will not cooperate and allow me to leave spaces. Consequently, I have improvised so that it can be clearly read… just had to add that 🙂 According to Forbes magazine, more …
Budgeting Review – “Simplicity”
The first step to setting up your budget is to determine your monthly budgetable income. In other words, the money after taxes that you have to pay your bills and to spend each month. The following blog was originally posted last year and covers the topic of determining your income from “Salary” – II. a. ~Albert Einstien once said, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” There is a lot of complexity to finances, and sometimes it is difficult to find the simple answer. Sometimes the answer is so simple and obvious that you miss it …
How to Set Up Your Budget (an outline)
This is a simple outline that I am going to fill in in the next few days with information. For today, if you have not yet set up a finance binder or a system of organization for the paperwork of your finances then please read the blogs under Section I. If you have been following my blogs, and already have your paperwork organized, then I thought that seeing the process of setting up your budget outlined in this simple format may help you. If it is all new to you, then stay with me, because it will all be explained …
Back to the Binder
If you haven’t yet converted to a Finance Binder, how is your filing cabinet working for you? Do you have a mountain of paperwork that is waiting for you to file? If you have converted, have you turned your Binder into home base for the rest of your paperwork which is stacked on top? Or do you have a beautifully organized Binder from last year, and have never started a new Binder for this year? Whichever scenario you find yourself in, today is a good day to file. It is Wednesday, which means absolutely nothings except why not make it …
Conquering the Pile
How is your pile doing? You know the pile: the stack of unopened mail, receipts, things you need to do, bills, and everything else that lands in the pile. If you are digging out with me this week, the chances are your pile is little mountain of clutter. Or perhaps your pile might have grown so large it has now spawned other baby piles all over your home. My pile keeps moving between my bedroom dresser (for when I have company) and back to my work area. Fortunately, I haven’t neglected it for long enough for it to become a …
Digging Out
There are times in everyone’s life when you will get buried. Whether it is under a pile of manure like sickness or accidents, or under a pile of joy like birthdays, vacations, or having a baby, the results on your finances can be similar. Just getting back to a level place in your finances can seem like it requires a monumental effort. Bills, statements, and even unopened mail can seemingly grow into mountains of paperwork overnight. Piles of receipts from your trip, or from your recent round of doctor’s visits and eating out, can haunt you and feel like a …
The Sound of Maintenance
Last week as I was leaving my house on an errand, I happened to roll down my window as I reversed out of my driveway. It was then that I heard that familiar high pitched squeal: the squeal of money flying from your wallet, carried away by the cost of new brakes for your car. I inwardly groaned at the thought, knowing that we faced birthday party expenses that weekend. I also wondered how long my brakes had been singing to me since I could not hear them at all with the window rolled up. I continued on my errand, …
The Thumbtack Theory
My Dad has this saying, “Stupidity is continually doing the same thing and expecting different results.” We all have our moments of stupidity. I had another moment today as I attempted once again to hang my son’s wall decorations back on his wall. Somewhere in my life I became convinced that the best way to hang anything is with thumbtacks…. I know I should get the hammer and put a nail in the wall. It’s just easier to use tacks. And more forgiving if you accidently hang the picture 2 inches too low. However, tacks definitely have their down side …
Suprises: Courtesy of India and Beyond
Have you ever been going through your bank statement and realized you forgot to enter a deposit or a debit? It doesn’t happen too often these days with automated downloads into your financial software… that is unless your financial software hates you. Yes, I know it’s a computer program that just does what it told, or at least that is what my mind tells me, but my heart knows the truth. “Quicken” hates me. I have upgraded, I have reinstalled, I have checked and double checked my account information, I have spent hours on the phone with their “support” team …
Frugality or Fear
I read a fascinating article today on MSN.com about how there is a huge shift in the spending patterns of Americans due to the weakness of the economy. More and more Americans are budgeting (yea!), they are clipping coupons, watching their spending and buying more economical cars. Experts are saying this is the biggest shift in buying trends since the 1970’s and the Depression after WWI. I found the whole article fascinating because I just started clipping coupons and bargain hunting for my groceries. I have been doing it for about six months now and I have cut my monthly …