Tip # 25 on Saving, Spending, and Savoring Money

25Nov09

Actually, you should do this every few months, but absolutely, positively, toward the end of each year.

1.  Do a quick estimate of this year’s federal income tax.

2.  Consulting your most recent paycheck, compare the estimate you did to the total federal income tax you have had withheld to date.

3.  Ask your human resources department for or download an online Form W-4.  You will use this easy-to-complete form to adjust the number of allowances you  are claiming.

The more allowances you claim on your Form W-4, the less tax is withheld from your paycheck.  You can claim any number of allowances you wish, but I don’t recommend more than nine (doesn’t change much above that).  And you can change your Form W-4 any time you wish.

4.  Over-withheld? Raise the number of allowances you are currently claiming.

5.  Under-withheld?  Lower the number of your allowances.

This is one of those “yin and yang” things.  Do not use the IRS as a savings account.  But be conservative.  You don’t want to end up paying penalties or interest.

As Tim Gunn would say, “Make it work.”

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Tags: budget, budgeting, change your life, Financial security, Form W-4, income tax, kat, kat bourgeois, katquest, new you, Personal growth, re-do, re-do you, re-invent, re-invention, saving money, solve problems, tax withholding, tips for saving money

Tip # 24 on Saving, Spending, and Savoring Money

24Nov09

Are you the kind of person who tends to see any money in your checking account as “fair game” for spending?

Scared of being overdrawn?

Try this trick.  Enter a “check” for $100 in your check register each payday. If you don’t see it, you won’t spend it.

Yes, pull the wool over your own eyes.  You’re worth it.

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Tags: change your life, check register, checking account, Financial security, kat, katquest, new you, overdrawn, re-do, re-do you, re-invent, re-invention, saving money, solve problems, spending, tips for saving money

Tip # 23 on Saving, Spending, and Savoring Money

23Nov09

You can use Price Protectr two different ways to save money.  When you are contemplating a purchase, you can use the site to track prices.  But, and this is where it gets really cool! – you can also save money after you make your purchase.

Lots of stores offer price protection policies.  When the price drops on an item you’ve purchased, these stores will refund the difference between the lower price and your purchase price.  But there’s a catch.  It’s up to you to track the price change.

Price Protectr tracks price changes for you.  It alerts you that prices have dropped so you can request rebates on your purchase from over 160 of your favorite stores.

Who’s watching your back?  Price Protectr.  And your mom, of course.

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Tags: change your life, Financial security, kat, kat bourgeois, katquest, new you, Personal growth, price chnges, price protection, re-do, rebates, saving money, solve problems, tips for saving money

Tip # 22 on Saving, Spending, and Savoring Money

23Nov09

What’s ahead for you?  New baby going to take you from two paychecks to one?  Starting a new business?  Moving into a new house with a big monthly payment?  Retiring in a year or so? Big changes all.

Your plan is all in your LIFE LAYOUT, but it’s going to take a tight budget.  You’re convinced it’s doable.

Want to be sure?  Start living on the new budget now.  Yes.  Now.

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Tags: budget, budgeting, change your life, Financial security, kat, kat bourgeois, katquest, life layout, new house, new you, Personal growth, retire, saving money, solve problems, start new business, tips for saving money

The Ben Franklin Plan: Laugh, Kiss, Hug, and Praise

22Nov09

Image via Wikipedia

In honor of Ben Franklin who focused on one virtue a month each year (plus humility, which he worked on all year round on the advice of a detractor),  I’m working on one  life principle each week from Sunday to Saturday.  Will you join me?

Yes, you’ve seen this one before.  In fact, it was the very first life principle we worked on a couple of months ago.  But with the Thanksgiving holidays coming up, I thought we should re-visit the whole “laugh, kiss, hug, and praise” thing.

It’s only four days and they’re not getting any younger you know…

Week 1:  Laugh, kiss, hug, and praise

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Tags: Ben Franklin, Benjamin Franklin, benjaminfranklin, change your life, Family, hug, Inner peace, Joy, kat, kat bourgeois, katquest, laugh, life principles, new you, praise, re-do, re-do you, re-invent, re-invention, solve problems, Spirituality, tips for saving money

Tip # 21 on Saving, Spending, and Savoring Money

21Nov09

This is a trick I learned many years ago when I was on a young housewife on a very tight budget.  At that time my “discretionary” amount for miscellaneous expenses was $50 a month.

I reserved half, or $25, for unexpected expenses.  And in some lucky months that $25 was carried over to create a mini-savings account, or “crisis cash” as I called it then.  I did say it was a long time ago.  Now my crises seem to come in $200 packages!

I would cash the remaining $25, and when something I routinely purchased went on sale, I would buy $25 worth of it.  Shades of what Nadia taught us in her guest blog Slash Your Grocery Bill (No Coupons Needed!).   Always buy what you’re going to end up buying anyway at a discount.  (An added bonus:  you never run out of deodorant or toothpaste.)

Nowadays I don’t carry my “miscellaneous” amount in cash, and I don’t generally follow the ads as I did in those days, but if I see my favorite brand of hand lotion in Walgreen’s or Target, I know I’ve allotted space in the budget to buy $50 worth (or up to the allowed limit).  So I stock up.

So my miscellaneous budget item has mushroomed from $25 – 100 from 1979 to 2009.   What else is new?!

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Tags: bargain shopping, budget, budgeting, change your life, discount, Financial security, kat, katquest, new you, Organization, Personal growth, re-do, re-do you, re-invent, re-invention, saving money, saving money on groceries, savings, solve problems, tips for saving money

Tip # 20 on Saving, Spending, and Savoring Money

20Nov09

Everyone has one budget item that is their Achilles heel.  Their personal “black hole”.  Where do you over-spend?

Let’s say it’s dining out.  Here’s a trick that will help you stop the craziness:

1. Decide what you should be spending, your monthly dining out budget.

2. Compare your current to desired spending amounts and taper down slowly for a couple of months if you are afraid to go “cold turkey”.

3. When you receive your paycheck, turn the amount of your dining out budget into cash.

4. Now instead of using a credit card when you dine out, use your cash allowance.

5.  27th of the month and the cash is gone?  Party over.

Studies show that people spend less when they are using cash versus credit cards.  As you see the dollars dwindling in your wallet, you’ll become more aware of your spending.  And you will be more likely to rein it in.

And yes, Virginia, restaurants do still take cash…

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Tags: budget, budgeting, change your life, dining out, Financial security, kat, kat bourgeois, katquest, new you, re-do, re-do you, re-invent, re-invention, saving money, solve problems, tips for saving money

Tip # 19 on Saving, Spending, and Savoring Money

19Nov09

Getting paid to do something I was going to do anyway?  Sweet.

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Tags: bargain shopping, change your life, discount shopping, Financial security, kat, kat bourgeois, katquest, new you, Personal growth, re-invent, re-invention, shopping, shopping online, tips for saving money

Tip # 18 on Saving, Spending, and Savoring Money

18Nov09

Starting today, if you have two credit cards, and you cannot pay off the entire monthly balances on either, implement a two-card strategy:

1.  Reserve one card for major purchases that will last at least five years, furniture for instance.  At least the item you purchase will last as long as, or hopefully longer than, the time it will take you to pay for it.   You are now treating this card like a collateralized loan, one backed up by an asset of value.  Like a car loan.  It makes more sense to pay monthly for items that have longevity.

2.  Use the other card for purchases with a short shelf  life, dinner, or a pair of tennis shoes, for instance.  If you cannot pay the entire balance now, resolve to pay at least what you charged on the card that month.  You are now using this card only as a convenience, a cash substitute.  Not as a long term loan.  And you are not getting further behind.

Two strategies.  Always better than one!

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Tags: change your life, Financial security, kat, katquest, new you, Personal growth, re-do, re-invent, re-invention, tips for saving money

Tip # 17 on Saving, Spending, and Savoring Money

17Nov09

Time to clean out your closets!  No, not because they are cluttered, although, of course, they are.  But because you want to donate your family’s unworn, overly worn, and “you wish could be worn” clothes to charity before year end.  Not only will you get a nice tax deduction, but you’ll help your less fortunate neighbors.

Oh, and don’t forget to add to the pile that iron you haven’t touched in 10 years…

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Tags: change your life, charitable contribution, charitable donation, clutter, Financial security, kat, kat bourgeois, katquest, new you, re-do, re-do you, re-invent, re-invention, saving money, solve problems, tips for saving money, year-end