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Just Right: How to Budget for Kitchen Renovation Costs Without Going Over

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Are you finally ready to give your kitchen that long-overdo remodel? While it may look great and increase your home’s value, it won’t come cheap. In fact, the average kitchen renovation costs more than $20,000!

With everything from counters to flooring costing you a pretty penny, it’s more important than ever to stick to your budget. Spending a little extra here and there can easily cost you an additional couple hundred or even thousand dollars.

But the good news is that sticking to your budget doesn’t have to be so hard. Keep reading to discover our tips that will help you get the kitchen of your dreams without going over budget.

Break Down the Costs

It’s no secret that your first step should be to make a budget. But it’s not enough to say, “I don’t want to spend more than $18,000.” You’ll end up losing track of how much everything has cost or you won’t leave enough room for the final touches, and you’re almost sure to overspend.

Instead, you should break down the costs. Write down every single thing you need to pay for, including materials and labor, do a little research to learn the average costs, and decide how much you can spend on each item.

This way, when it’s time to go shopping, you know exactly how much you can spend on flooring, counters, cabinets, and whatever else you need.

DIY Where You Can

Some things are better left to the professionals. However, there are plenty of things you can DIY in your kitchen remodel.

Consider doing things like demolition, painting, and installing new ceiling lights yourself. If you’re knowledgeable about flooring or cabinetry, do these too! You’ll save a ton of money and can put that cash towards something else.

Have a Buffer

No matter how carefully you plan, you’ll inevitably end up paying unexpected costs when it comes to bathroom and kitchen renovations. Or, maybe you fell in love with a counter that’s a smidge too expensive.

Instances like this are why it’s important to have a buffer in your budget. Allocate about 20% of your overall budget to this, so you have plenty of money to play with when surprise costs come up.

Prioritize

So, you bought cabinets that were a hundred dollar over budget? You can take that money from the buffer, right? While it’s okay to do this for small amounts, you don’t want to rely on this method or you’re sure to spend all your buffer money in no time and break your budget.

Instead, you want to prioritize the different aspects of your renovation. Know what areas you want to splurge on and make a plan to cut back on less important areas if necessary.

Budgeting for Kitchen Renovation Costs

If you’re planning on remodeling your kitchen, those price tags are probably stressing you out. But just follow our guide to ensure you keep your kitchen renovation costs within budget and get the perfect kitchen.

Do you want to wait a few months and save more before you tackle your kitchen remodel? Then check out our 12-week saving challenge to help you get started.

If You Want to Save More in 2023, Try This 12-Week Savings Challenge

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Saving is a huge part of becoming (and remaining) debt free. If you don’t have an emergency fund things can pop up and cause you to rack up some serious debt. Similarly, you can go into debt buying things if you don’t save money for big events like birthdays and Christmas. But, saving money is hard. Really hard.

Thankfully, the internet has come up with fun, catchy challenges to make you more financially aware and help you save money. After looking at some of the different challenges, I’ve decided to create my own 12-week challenge for savings.

Savings Challenges

About five years ago savings challenges began popping up on the internet. First, it started with the 365-Day Money Challenge. This challenge lasts throughout the year, as the name suggests, and helps you put aside small sums of money each day. The first day starts out with you saving just $0.01.

Next, is the 52-Week Money Challenge. Like the 365-day challenge, it lasts the entire year. However, this challenge ends with a larger amount in savings and focuses on putting money away weekly. The first week, people participating in the challenge put $1 into savings and work their way up to $52 by the end of the year.

Both of these are easy and help people who aren’t so great at managing their money or saving get some cash put away (even if it is only a penny at a time). Many people have been wildly successful at saving this way. So much so that they’ve put other twists on it, like the Bi-Weekly Money Challenge, Reverse 52-Week Money Challenge, and the Mega Money Challenge.

My 12-Week Challenge

For the most part, each of these challenges takes an entire year. If you’re also actively trying to pay off debt it can be overwhelming trying to put money into savings while effectively snowballing what you owe. That’s what got me thinking about a savings challenge with a shorter timeframe: 3 months.

Here is what I got figured out for a 12-week challenge…

  • Week 1: $100 total
  • Week 2: $250 total
  • Week 3: $350 total
  • Week 4: $500 total
  • Week 5: $600 total
  • Week 6: $750 total
  • Week 7: $850 total
  • Week 8: $1,000 total
  • Week 9: $1,150 total
  • Week 10: $1,250 total
  • Week 11: $1,400 total
  • Week 12: $1,550 total

For the first week, we will start by putting $100 into savings. Then, the second week, we will increase our contribution to $150 (making our total savings $250). Throughout the 12 weeks, we will alternate between putting $100 and $150 into savings. The fluctuation will account for the weeks we have “additional” expenses like health/beauty supplies or cleaning items around the house.

 

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What to do When Your Spouse Won’t Invest

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<p>Money is one of the things that can cause the most strife in marriages. Having different priorities about how money should be spent or different methods of handling money is usually the problem. But what if the bills are getting paid and most of your goals align except for investing? What if you have approached your spouse multiple times and they won’t budge? How do you know what to do when your spouse won’t invest?</p>::Pexels

Money is one of the things that can cause the most strife in marriages. Having different priorities about how money should be spent or different methods of handling money is usually the problem. But what if the bills are getting paid and most of your goals align except for investing? What if you have approached your spouse multiple times and they won’t budge? How do you know what to do when your spouse won’t invest?

1. Ask About Their Investment Fears

Since you already know your other half doesn’t want to invest, maybe you need to listen. Ask what is holding them back. Find out what their fears are when it comes to investing. Perhaps they don’t have all of the facts such as what type of investment you are interested in or what the success rate is. Maybe they don’t personally know anyone who has had success in investing so they feel the numbers are faked.

As you talk about your spouse’s fears when it comes to investing it’s best to try to keep them calm and not say things that will upset or anger them. Their concerns are valid even though they may be different and have a point of view that is not the same as yours. Let them know you understand and appreciate their honesty in discussing it with you.

The truth is, until you let your spouse tell you why they don’t want to invest you can’t put them at ease about it and start investing.

2. Discuss Goals

Before marriage you probably discussed at least some of your life’s goals such as jobs, children, or traveling. Maybe you even talked a little about money such as paying off certain bills or student loan debt. However, many couples don’t think about the far off goals such as having money when it’s time to retire because it is so far off in the future it seems like it will never come.

But the truth is, the years pass all too quickly and suddenly you are middle aged with no retirement savings. To avoid that you must address the elephant in the room and have the hard conversations about investing. If you have talked about what is holding your spouse back you’ve already tackled one of the obstacles to investing. Now it’s time to discuss your future goals. Do you want to travel in the future? Or maybe you want to retire early and open your own business. Of course, your goals could be as simple as retiring someday with enough money in the bank to sustain your lifestyle. Whatever each of your goals are you should get them out in the open so you can move forward toward making them happen.

3. Make a Plan Together

Now that you understand each other a little better when it comes to your investment fears and future goals it’s time to start putting together a plan. Determine if you are in a financial position to invest and what would happen if you don’t succeed. Can you both handle the consequences? Will your marriage fall apart because you each blame the other? You need to make your decisions based off of what works the best for both of you. In many cases, investing in commodities like gold and silver could be a great strategy as commodities are something even newbies understand.

4. Start Small

If losing a lot of money is one of the fears your spouse has when it comes to investing maybe you could start off by investing only a small amount. Although there are a lot of ways to invest that require significant amounts of start-up money, such as starting a business or purchasing real estate, there are other ways to invest on a smaller scale. In fact, some types of investments, like the robo-investing company Wealthfront, have no minimums when it comes to how much you need to get started.

5. Seek Help

If your spouse is concerned about choosing the wrong kind of investment, because it’s a hard decision to make, you could get help in that area. Because investing has changed over the years you don’t have to hire financial advisor in fancy suit to make the decisions for you. Look at robo-advisors if you haven’t already done so. They are a great way to have help in your investments and are easy to use. In addition, one of the things they are known for is saving you time. A robo-advisor is a good way to get started investing if you aren’t sure how to begin.

While it’s true money, and investing in particular, can cause many an argument in a marriage it doesn’t have to be that way in yours. You may have different ideas about investing, but there are solutions that will provide you with a better future together even when your spouse won’t invest.

What other kind of approach could you take when your spouse won’t invest?

The Real Cost of Having a Puppy

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<p>We’ve added a new addition to the family. His name is Enzo. He’s a eight-week-old Blue Heeler-Labrador Retriever mix and he’s completely stolen our hearts. Many people don’t realize how taxing a puppy can be on your finances and regular day-to-day life. Adding a puppy to your family can be great but the cost of a puppy can be startling.</p>::Pexels
We’ve added a new addition to the family. His name is Enzo. He’s a eight-week-old Blue Heeler-Labrador Retriever mix and he’s completely stolen our hearts. Many people don’t realize how taxing a puppy can be on your finances and regular day-to-day life. Adding a puppy to your family can be great but the cost of a puppy can be startling.

The Cost of a Puppy

Enzo has brought so much joy into our lives that his presence is truly priceless but the cost of a puppy is real. First you have to pay for the dog, and if you are seeking a pure-bred dog they can be expensive. Once you’ve gotten a puppy you’ll have to pay for shots, dog toys, dog food, dog bed, vet checkups, training classes, treats and even puppy bath supplies. The cost of a puppy can get pretty high, especially within the first year.

Saving for a Puppy

Saving for a puppy is a good idea, especially if you’ll only be able to afford the regular month-to-month expenses of having a dog. To prepare for your first year of having a dog you should probably save (or be able to afford) the following:

  • Purchase of the Dog: Depending on the breed you are seeking this could be thousands of dollars or none. Craigslist is a great place to find dogs for sale in your area (especially if you’re looking to spend a bit less).
  • Spayed and Neutered: You’ll also likely want to get your pup spayed or neutered unless you aim to breed them. The average cost for this is $200. However, some animal shelters will do it for much less (even as low as $20).
  • Medical Exams and Shots: Through your puppy’s first year of life they will need various vaccinations as well as routine checkups. The shots generally cost about $75 during the first year and medical exam costs will vary depending on your vet.
  • Collar/Leash: Getting a puppy means you’ll want to get puppy things like collars, leashes, beds, etc. In the end, most people spend about $100 getting things for their new pup.
  • Crate: You may have to spend $95+ (depending on size) if you decide to crate train or crate your dog. In addition to that you’ll also want a crate mat ($20+).
  • Carrying Crate: A carrying crate can vary in price depending on the size and quality of the carrier. Most of them come in around $60.
  • Training: Lastly, if you need to purchase training classes for your pup you may spend $110 or more. You may also need things like training treats, training harnesses and muzzles, training pads and even training spray. This could cost $100+ more.

If you want to try and save for the costs of your puppy’s first year of life you’ll want to save anywhere from a couple hundred to a couple thousand dollars. The good (and bad) news is is that they won’t stay puppies forever. Eventually he cost of having a dog will be spread out across the year.

Cost of a puppy

Annual Cost of a Dog

A dog costs you about $695 per year. The various vet checkups, insurance and food costs are what really impact the overall cost. Here is the average annual cost of a dog broken down:

  • Food: $120/ year
  • Medical Exams: $235/year
  • Toys and Treats: $55/year
  • 
License: $15/year
  • Health Insurance: $225/year,
  • Miscellaneous Costs: $45/year

Budgeting for a Dog

Budgeting for a dog can be difficult. You should always have some money saved in case of a vet emergency but, other than that, you only have to spend about $70 per month on your dog. If you are able to make your vet appointments during the last or first month of the year you’ll be able to save for exams as well!

Things to Consider

In addition to the financial cost of having a puppy there are also other costs. You will have to spend a lot of time with a puppy training them and caring for them. There is also a possibility of losing sleep (if they have a hard time adjusting). Any way you look at it, a puppy or dog is a huge responsibility and they deserve all the love you can give them. Be sure you are able to afford and care for your pup before bringing him home.

Have you gotten a puppy and realized it was more responsibility than you could take on? What did you do? 

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Creating Your Payoff Plan – The Debt Snowball Method

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The purpose of this blog is to take you through the exact process that my husband and I have used to pay off more than $65,000 of debt in 11 months on a single middle class income.

To get you started on your journey, there are a number of things you need to do get your house in order.

1. Make a promise and get your spouse on board
2. Calculate your net worth
3. Review the checklist for a strong financial plan
4. Set your goals
5. Track your spending.

This posting is about a key part of the process in your debt payoff journey – developing a debt payoff plan using the debt snowball.

Subscribe Below and Get a “Jump Start Your Way Out Of Debt” Worksheet!

Now it is time to develop your payoff plan

This step is where you determine which debt you will pay off first, assuming you have more than one debt. We need to prioritize your debts so that you will focus on paying off one debt at a time.

If you make extra payments at one time toward all of your debts or even just a few, it will take much longer to realize significant results. This may lead to feelings of discouragement and frustration with the debt elimination process.

By focusing your energy on eliminating one debt at a time, you will see quicker results and earn a greater sense of accomplishment for all your hard work.

You will work on paying off the smallest balance first and make the minimum payments on each of the other debts.

Put as much money as you can each month toward the smallest debt.

Once that debt is paid off, you will cross it off (and celebrate!) and move on to the next debt on the list. Add the amount you have been paying on your first debt to the minimum payment for your second debt on your list and that becomes your new payment amount for your second debt.

This is called the debt snowball method. As you pay off the smaller debts, the amount of money you have available to pay off your bigger debts increases.

You will gain momentum as you rapidly cross the smaller items off your list. Paying off the smaller debts quickly gives you a series of “small wins.”

In his book “The Power of Habit” Charles Duhigg states, “Small wins fuel transformative changes by leveraging tiny advantages into patterns that convince people that bigger achievements are within reach.” Basically, this means that when you have a series of small wins and you see progress as your snowball grows, paying off the larger debts will feel more achievable.

By the way, Duhigg’s book is great, I recommend you pick up a copy if you get a chance.

Let’s look at an example

Let’s say your debt snowball looks like this:

Paying off your total debt of $31,850 probably feels overwhelming. Perhaps it is almost as much as your annual salary from your job. You might be thinking that it would be YEARS before you would be able to pay it all off.

And that might be true. It might be years but probably not as many as you think if you are intentional and focused on your goal.

Let’s say you work really hard in finding room in your budget (we’ll discuss strategies for this in a future post), and you are able to pay $500 toward Credit Card 1 each month while making the minimum payments on each of your other debts.

After two-and-a-half months, you have paid off Credit Card 1!

The following month you add $500 to the minimum payment for Credit Card 2. We’ll say that amount is $95. So in month four, you pay $595 toward Credit Card 2.

At that rate, it will take you about four months to pay off Credit Card 2.

After eight months, you have paid off two credit cards totaling $3,550!

Achieving those quick, small wins makes paying off your auto loan feel much more attainable. Your enthusiasm for paying off your debt has increased, and now you are even more motivated to pay off your auto loan as quickly as possible so that you can move on to paying off your last debt!

In month nine, your excitement spurs you to find an additional $100 in your budget so instead of adding $595 to your auto payment, you are adding $695 to your minimum payment of $250.

How long do you think it will take you to pay off your auto loan when you are making payments of $945?

Possibly only five months because your balance has decreased while you have been working your debt snowball even though you have only been making the minimum payment up until this point.

After thirteen months you have paid off three debts totaling $9,050, and you are able to add $945 to your minimum payment for your student loan!

Even though your student loan balance may still be over $20,000, you realize that in thirteen months, you have been able to pay off almost a third of your original debt total. And as your income increases over time, you will be able to pay even more toward your student loan each month.

In this scenario, I anticipate that it might take you another year-and-a-half to pay off the student loan. As a result, it has taken you two-and-a-half years to pay off your total debt balance of $31,850!

Exciting, right?

And it is completely doable.

This is the method my husband and I have used to whittle away more than $87,000 of debt in 20 months on a single income, but our numbers were much larger.

If we can do it, you can do it too!

Keeping Up The Momentum – Should You Refinance?

If you’re making good progress on your debt payoff and your credit is good, you might consider refinancing. If you’re going to do this you might consider going with a company like SoFi. They’ve been making waves with their low priced loans.

 

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What To Do With Your Finances After First Quarter

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First quarter finances

Can you believe we are wrapping up the third month of 2022 already? The first three months of the year have flown by. To ensure you are staying on track and setting yourself up for financial success, there are a few things you need to do. Here’s what you need to do with your money after the first quarter.

1. Review Your Budget and Spending

One of the most important things to review is your budget and spending for the first few months of the year. Doing this will give you an idea of where your money went during the first quarter and how you can change the trajectory of your finances for the year. You may need to adjust your budget for lifestyle changes or different things that have happened this year thus far.

For our family, the budget has drastically changed since this time last year. It’s even changed since the last quarter of 2021. Our child’s needs are changing almost daily. To meet them, we have to adjust our spending and our budget pretty regularly. However, we’ve also found other ways to hustle and make some cash on the side. When we reviewed our first quarter, we saw that we are spending a lot more on food than we used to. Other prices have also gone up. So, we need to make adjustments for that. This is also a great time to set aside cash for upcoming quarterly expenses, like oil changes and other regular costs.

2. Check Your Progress on Paying Off Debt

Next, take a look at how much progress you’ve made paying off your debt. For many people paying off debt was a New Year’s resolution. Where do you stand with your current debts? Even if you can’t make additional payments at this time, make sure everything is kept up to date. Set up autopay for everything that you can too. Choosing autopay can actually help save you money. You won’t ever have to pay a late fee and many companies provide discounts to customers who use the autopay feature.

Right now, our crew is able to maintain minimum payments, but not much more than that. On the plus side, we haven’t missed any payments and our amount owed is steadily decreasing.

3. Take a Look at Your Other Money Goals

Debt payoff shouldn’t be your only money goal for the year either. Gauge where you stand with all of your money objectives. Have you contributed enough to your 401k? Do you have a savings goal you’d like to meet? Did you set a goal to start investing in the stock market this year? Whatever the case may be, check in with yourself to see where you stand with that goal.

One of our goals was to start an education savings account for our daughter. While it hasn’t happened yet, we are setting ourselves up for success with this goal in the second quarter and beyond. Once we have filed our 2021 taxes, we will be free to start focusing on building savings for our daughter’s education.

4. Work on a Financial Calendar for the Rest of the Year

Financial calendars can help you stay on top of things. Honestly, without my budget calendar, I’d be lost! Whether you keep track of things on a physical calendar like I do or you prefer digital tracking, it is important to have an organized system. It makes it easier to plan and reach your goals. A financial calendar can also help remind you of important dates. For instance, in North Carolina, we have to pay property taxes and registration fees on your vehicle once every year. It happens at the same time every year so you can plan for the couple hundred dollars it’s going to cost you. You can do this for all of your bigger expenses throughout the year.

5. Examine Your Bills and Expenses

Last, but not least, comb through your bills and regular expenses. Is there anything that can be trimmed down? Or is there anything you’re paying for that you aren’t using? I always have to take a look at our subscription services. We are king and queen of “start a free trial and forget about it.” So, once every other months I take a look at our expenses and see what subscriptions we can get rid of. You might be paying for other services you aren’t using. In some cases, you may even find a discrepancy on your bill.

Readers, what are some things you do after the first quarter each year?

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5 Budget-Friendly Spring Activities for Your Kids

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Spring is finally here, and if you are a parent, then chances are you are looking for ways to keep your kids entertained through the rainy months. It can be easy to want to turn on the TV for the entirety of a rainstorm simply to keep your kids occupied, but there are many better ways to keep your children mentally engaged, even when the weather is so unpredictable. In this blog post, we will talk about some excellent budget-friendly ideas to keep your kids active and creative this spring.

1. Growing Your Own Plants

When it comes to planting a tiny herb garden or a flower bed, spring is the perfect season to start. Schedule a trip to the garden store for your kids to pick out their own flower or vegetable seeds to plant. Be sure to make a point to have them check on their plants every day, watering and caring for them as needed. You can even have them take a photo of their plant every day to make a photo montage when it is fully grown. Growing a personal plant is sure to become a wholesome yearly tradition, and only costs the tiny amount you spent on the seeds.

2. Geocaching

The free “Geocache” app for smartphones is an excellent way to make good use of the sunnier days that spring brings. “Geocaches” are small capsules that people leave in certain hiking spots for people to find and sign, like a game of outdoor hide-and-seek. Though some of these may be higher up and made for adults to find, the app makes it easy to filter and locate all of the geocaches close to you that are geared towards children.

3. Rock Hide-and-Seek

If your kids love geocaching, then they will love rock hide-and-seek. Collect some rocks from a local riverbed or pond, and let your kids paint them however they want. If you want to get extra creative, pick up some glow-in-the-dark paint as well. Once they are dried, you can play rock hide-and-seek inside or outdoors, depending on the weather.

4. Creative Video Games

Video games are becoming a popular pastime for children of all ages. While it can be easy to assume that video games are just like television, several engaging video games focus on building and creativity. Minecraft offers kids an entire world of their own to explore and build, offering endless playability for years to come. Certain “seeds” can help determine the Minecraft world that you generate, but they are mostly random. This game is also a cheaper alternative to other age-particular games that your child may grow out of, and can keep their creativity growing for years to come.

5. Using Your Crafting Leftovers

Once your child’s little chunk of video game time is up, you can keep the building motive going with a crafting closet party. Instead of throwing out all your old art supplies, allow your child to make whatever they want out of them. Sculpture-making is a great boredom-buster for rainy days, especially for kids who are bigs fans of Lego or Minecraft.

Clearly, there are tons of ways to keep your kids mentally active this spring. Whether they prefer creativity of the digital variety, or physically exploring the outside world. The world is theirs for the taking, so get out all your crafting supplies and get started!

How to Save Money During the Moving Process

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If you and your family are preparing for a move, saving money on that move should be a priority. Moving is expensive but there are ways you can reign in the costs. Following these simple steps will help you cut back on moving costs for you and your family.

The More Planning Time the Better

The longer in advance you can plan the move for you and your family, the more savings you are likely to find. Planning way ahead will help you to compare costs and give you time to do the research. Moving is a lot like traveling in that if you must make last-minute decisions you are going to probably pay more for the service.

The time of year that you are planning the move for you and your family will also affect how much you will pay to hire a moving company. Summertime is the busiest season to move. About 60% of moves in the United States happen between May and August. If you can move a little earlier or a little later, you can see significant savings. Plotting to move your family carefully can be one of the easiest ways to save money on your move.

Take on Part of the Move Yourself

Moving companies typically offer a suite of services. These added-value services come with a steep price tag. For example, most moving companies offer packing and unpacking services which can ring up the cost of your move. Instead of paying for a moving company to do the packing and unpacking, you can delegate duties to your family and get the house packed up without picking up the tab.

Put your family to work and make each family member responsible for packing up their own room. Of course, if your children are very young, you may need to enlist the help of extended family members like grandparents. Doing part of the job yourself will result in significant savings that you can put toward the work that needs to be done in your new home, like landscaping. Saving money on your move and putting it toward landscaping in the new place can result in a 14% return on your investment when you resell your new home down the line.

Save For the Move

Remember that first tip to plan as far ahead as you can? If you start planning months in advance, you can start saving as soon as possible for the move. It will be less of a hit to your budget if you tuck a few hundred dollars to the side each month to cover the costs of the move instead of using credit cards for the move. Saving for the move may not reduce the overall cost of the move but it will lessen the financial hit.

Look for the Best Value in Moving

A DIY move may seem like the best way to save money, but you have to consider whether it is the best value. Consider the cost of renting a moving truck, the time it would take to load all your family’s goods, and then unload the goods at your destination. Time is money. If your family includes younger children, a DIY move can be harrowing. Of course, you also have to consider safety. Can you carry that fridge with a friend down a couple of flights of steps? Will you have the “manpower” to make the move?

Finally, Do This

Many people do not realize that they can negotiate moving costs. If you and your family are moving, treat it like you are buying a new car. You may be surprised to find that you can ask for discounts and get them. Saving on your move is essential because there will be things you will need to have money for when you get to your new place. For example, a new video surveillance system to keep your family safe. About 67% of burglaries can be avoided by adding a surveillance system.

You can curtail the cost of moving your family by just taking a few simple steps and, in some cases, asking for a better deal. Good luck on your move and make savings a priority.

 

Our Third Wedding Anniversary: Reflections

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March 18, 2019 was the day my husband and I got married. As you know, it has been a wild ride. We got married and, two days later, moved to Atlanta (a place we’d only visited once). We were adventurers. Both of us would jump at the opportunity to experience something new. Three years later, everything and nothing has changed.

We still jump at the opportunity to experience new things, but we do some research and make sure it is in the budget. There is also nothing in the world that would make us want to live in a big city again. Love to everyone in Atlanta, but we didn’t have a good time there. Maybe it was bad timing (COVID-19 and all), but our experience there turned us off of living in the city altogether.

Our relationship over the last year has only gotten stronger. At this time last year, I was pregnant and we were eagerly waiting to find out the gender. Neither of us were surprised with the ultrasound tech told us we were expecting a baby girl.

I got to see my husband, who was already my best friend, become a dad. It looks good on him! He also kickstarted a new career where I know he will do amazing things. We nourished each other’s hobbies and helped each other grow. “And like the Grinch” my heart has grown at least three sizes this year to shower our little family in love each day.

anniversary reflections

Financially, we are so much better off than we were three years ago and even more so than when we first moved in together six years ago. During our relationship, we have been homeless living in a motel, a great apartment we loved, a run-down temporary house, crowded in a 450 sq. ft. condo with bed bugs, and now in our little three-bedroom rental. We’ve been through it all.

The biggest thing we both need to get adjusted to is being able to live rather than just survive. There have been a lot of really intense situations we’ve dealt with over the last few years. Motel living, bed bugs at Christmas, moving back to North Carolina to discover I was pregnant one month later. Right now, I’d love for us to be able to sit back and really enjoy this moment in our lives instead of constantly wondering how we will pay for rent or what if XYZ happens? I want to live rather than just survive.

All in all, we have had a great anniversary. We got a few kid-free hours, ate great food, visited the bookstore, and got to do a puzzle. Of course, we got plenty of time with our little one too. Cheers to three years and a lifetime ahead of us. I can’t wait to see where it takes us.

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5 Tax Tips for Freelancers

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Any freelancing job comes with the added fun of being your own accountant. Sure, you’re your own boss too, but now you’ve got to handle all the finances yourself. You need to make sure you’re working enough to live, a little extra if you’ve got something to save for, and, crucially, that you are doing your taxes right.

It’s already a hassle doing your own taxes every year, so to shake up the routine for the sake of taxing a freelance job can feel like a headache. If you’re having trouble, take a look at these tips to help make your taxes easier.

Don’t mix personal and business

You might have decided that, since you are the sole trader of your business, and the bank therefore doesn’t require it, you’ll not bother with a business bank account. That’s fine; however, not recommended. Keep your personal finances separated from your business for a lot of reasons.

For one thing, it will stop you just from spending business money on a new pair of shoes you just had to have, or personal money set for the utilities on an unexpected business bill. A little bit here and there can lead to more. Keeping the two separate will keep you from confusing the two, when looking at your account, which tend to present everything as one big pot.

By keeping business and personal accounts separate, you will see clearly how much money is tied up in business, how much to budget for costs, and you won’t have to decide which expenses are business related down the line.

Keep all your documents digital

There are a lot of logical reasons to keep your documents digitally stored. There is the obvious, that it lowers physical clutter, keeps things accessible, provides a backup, etc., but it also makes everything a lot easier to find. If life had a search tab, we’d never have to have a hide-a-key.

When it comes to taxes, you need to keep a hold of all your documents for at least five years after the 31 January tax deadline. That’s a lot of documents to go hunting through for something that happened five years ago.

This is important for purchases and expenses. Expenses are one of the few ways you can reduce your taxable income, and there are a lot of expenses that you can gain in a year. But getting your expenses wrong could be a tax liability. The taxman is going to need proof of all of these expenses in order to write them off, and they will be a lot easier to find and present to the taxman if they’re not in a huddled pile in a drawer in your office.

Another tip is to file them in chronological order and label them with a date so that you can easily pull them. There are lots of accounting software out there to help you with this. When it comes to creating a digital copy, you can invest in a scanner to make things clearer.

Stick to a routine

One of the main perks of freelancing is the flexible working schedule, which can be tempting to sway from anyway, so it’s important that you find some semblance of a schedule. But when it comes to accounting, it’s vital. The flexible work routine doesn’t really hand itself to accounting as you will need to be prompt with everything you are doing.

It’s recommended that you get a little done every day, rather than a lot done in a week. Set aside at least 30 minutes every day to file your documents as you need to to keep everything in order. Keep it to raising invoices, adding expenses, and reviewing reports on your dashboard and you’re done until January. It’s a case where a little tedium now will save you a lot of stress down the line.

Keep track of all sources of income

If you are freelancing, it’s likely you will have various sources of income, various clients hiring you for your work, various rates of work done for various people. Keeping track of all this is a lot easier with the new addition of online banking, and it’s important that you use it in your bookkeeping. There is accounting software that can help you here. You can link your bank feeds to the accounting software so that the software can do all the heavy lifting of tracking your accounts. Plus, your cloud-stored files will be available to the software for you to pull out as you need it.

Get professional help when you need it

Unfortunately, some of us simply don’t have the mind for numbers, never mind accounting. It’s a tedious process, with consequences if we get it wrong – and there is a lot of room for error.

If you find yourself struggling, there is nothing wrong with consulting a professional. You can hand over all your accounts and documents to a freelancer accountant to deal with and trust that they have your taxes handled. With the finances looked after, you can keep focused on growing your business. Growing your business will mean more income, and more income will mean more work for the accountant to get done.

Of course, all this will be moot if the freelance job you’re looking for is in accounting. Then you’ve just got a side task to get done.