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Our Debt Free Family

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What Happens to My Credit Score When I Pay Off All My Debt?

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What happens to my credit score when I pay off all my debt?

This question came up in the Our Debt Freedom Family Facebook group recently, and I know a lot of people have the same question when getting out of debt.

So in this article we’re going to be answering the following question:

“How does being debt free affect your credit? We’ll be paying off our debt soon. When we do, we’ll keep our credit cards open, but what will my credit score look like when all the other loans are closed?”

A similar question was asked last year about how your score is affected when you close out one of your old credit cards. I wrote an article in response, and in that article, I went into great detail about how your credit score is calculated and how closing out the card affects your score.

To summarize, the most commonly used credit score is calculated using software created by the Fair Isaac Corporation, also known as FICO. Your FICO® score is determined and weighted by the following five factors:

  • Payment history — approximately 35%
  • Amounts owed — approximately 30%
  • Length of credit history — approximately 15%
  • New credit — approximately 10%
  • Types of credit in use — approximately 10%

If you close out all of your cards, pay off all of your loans, and never use credit again, eventually, the reporting agencies won’t be able to provide a score for you.

However, if you leave your cards open and use them once in awhile and keep them paid off, your credit score is likely to be very high.

In fact, I recently interviewed Christine Odle who paid off $500,000 worth of debt (house and everything) since 2009. She said that she has one credit card that she pays off several times each month, and her score is over 800.

My husband and I also have one credit card that we use and pay off each month (in addition to our mortgage) and our credit scores are over 800, as well. We’ve definitely seen our credit scores increase as our debt total has decreased over the past few years.

My question to anyone else concerned about their credit score is this —

Once you’ve paid everything off, do you plan to use credit again in the future? If not, then it probably won’t have much affect on your life. But if you do, it might be worth using a credit card and paying it off every month to keep that good payment history on your record.

Don’t Pay To Check Your Credit!!!

You used to need to pay to check your credit score.  Don’t do that!!  Instead, get your credit score for free.  Here are four completely free ways to check your credit score.

Annual Credit Report. Federal law says the three credit reporting bureaus must provide customers with a free credit report once per year. Just go to www.annualcreditreport.com and sign up.

Chase’s Credit Journey. Chase will not only provide you access to your credit score, but also gives you a set of great tools to improve your credit score.  It is 100% free to sign up.

Lexis Nexis. Another way to get a free credit report is to get your Lexis Nexis file. The report will have personal information gathered from public records and third party sources. You can get a copy of what information about you they have on file by sending in an application with your ID.

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Keep moving forward toward your goals. You really can live the life you dream about!

Debt-Free Homeowner? 5 Tips to Pay Off Your Mortgage Early

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Owning a home is one of the greatest goals to achieve in one’s lifetime. More interestingly, home loans have helped many people achieve this American dream faster than it would have taken to accumulate sufficient savings to purchase with cash.

However, home prices have been increasing faster than income over the years. This has resulted in the need for higher loan amounts to purchase homes. With the average mortgage term hitting 30 years, repaying your home loan may feel like forever. 

For every problem, there is a solution ― these ten(10) tips will help you lower the debt and pay off your mortgage early.

But before you try them, it is essential to note that a mortgage lender may include a prepayment penalty in the loan term.

A mortgage loan prepayment penalty is a fee a mortgage lender charges when you repay all or part of your loan before the agreed loan term ends. The loan comes with interest rates; the more the years, the higher the chance of charging more interest.

Hence, early payment implies the lender will be getting a lower interest in total; therefore, the prepayment penalty is a cushion.

Contact your mortgage lender and ensure you reach an agreement before you start executing plans to pay off your mortgage early.

Another important thing to mention is that while repaying your mortgage, ensure you have enough funds budgeted for your roof inspection and other home maintenance.

Ways to pay off your mortgage early

1. Cancel mortgage insurance premium

Many lenders will mandate borrowers to get Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) if the down payment is less than 20 percent of the home’s purchase price. The insurance protects the lender in case you stop paying. 

It costs between 0.5 to 2.25 percent of the entire mortgage loan annually and is repaid as part of the monthly mortgage payment.

For context, if you purchase a home worth $350,000 with a 1.5% PMI fee, in addition to your mortgage, you will be a PMI fee of $5,250 annually or about $438 each month.

Some lenders automatically remove the PMI once you have 22 percent equity in the home. But you can request it to be removed once you have 20 percent equity in the home.

The PMI fee can then be redirected into repaying your mortgage loan.

2. Lower your housing cost

You can reduce your home maintenance cost and use your savings to repay your mortgage.

Consider reducing your energy bill by using energy-efficient appliances. Always turn off your tap and repair any leaks as soon as possible to reduce the water bill.

For general home maintenance, check those you can DIY and others you can achieve on a budget.

Also, cut your cable and internet costs, especially if you do not usually use them. Cancel any subscription you are not using and take advantage of discount offers whenever available.

Likewise, avoid impromptu purchases. Only buy what you need and not what you want. You need all cash you can squeeze to hasten your mortgage repayment. 

If you can save $500 by cutting unnecessary costs and using DIYs for some repairs, that is about $6,000 yearly. This can significantly reduce the number of years to repay your mortgage loan.

3. Earn passive income

Increasing your monthly income can help you increase the extra payment for your home loan.

You can work overtime if your company permits it or take a part-time job for your free hours and days. Rent out unused spaces in your home, and invest in dividend-paying stocks or bonds if your finance permits.

Depending on your skills and career situation, you can leverage online freelance opportunities.

If you are an expert in your field, consider writing a book, consulting for startups, or organizing paid webinars.

Blogging and vlogging are other ways to share your experience and, at the same time, generate passive income.

4. Increase your payment

Split your monthly mortgage payment into two and make biweekly payments. Understand the number of days and weeks in a month varies. Therefore, if you do this, you will end up paying 13-month worth of the loan in a year.

Another method is increasing the principal each month or annually. If your lender agrees, this does not only help you pay off the loan faster; it may also reduce the total interest over the life of the loan.

5. Refinance your mortgage

Refinance your mortgage into a new one with a lower interest rate and better loan term. This can be a good option if you have a bad credit score when you get the first mortgage. Now that your credit score has improved, you may be qualified for a better interest rate.

Invariably, a loan with a lower interest rate can be repaid faster than another with a higher interest rate.

Self-Care is Crucial to Maintaining Financial Wellness

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<p>If there is one thing postpartum taught me is that you have to occasionally unplug and just take care of yourself. I’m someone who has always been on the go. Seriously, I look for new projects in my spare time. However, I recently realized that this kind of lifestyle and attitude is hurting me. In fact, it may even be harming my finances.</p>::Pexels

If there is one thing postpartum taught me is that you have to occasionally unplug and just take care of yourself. I’m someone who has always been on the go. Seriously, I look for new projects in my spare time. However, I recently realized that this kind of lifestyle and attitude is hurting me. In fact, it may even be harming my finances.

Why Self-Care is Important

Self-care is one of the most important investments you can make for yourself. There is a laundry list of potential benefits to practicing a regular self-care routine. It can help reduce and even eliminate anxiety, which we’ve talked about on the blog a lot recently. Practicing regular self-care can also improve your concentration and energy while reducing depression, frustration, and anger. Here are a few more perks…

  • Ambition: You will want to do more to reach your goals if you take time to unplug.
  • Mental health: It will improve your mental health and improve your outlook on life.
  • Finance: Regular self-care makes you less likely to splurge and more motivated to reach financial goals.
  • Reset: Sometimes we just need a reset to focus on what’s important and carving out time for self-care does that.

The problem most people have, myself included, is seeing the return on self-care. Any time I take a moment to unplug and take care of myself I feel like I’m losing money or missing out on new opportunities.

After reading more into the benefits of regular self-care though, I know it is the exact opposite. Without the chance to perform regular self-care, I’m likely missing out on opportunities because I’m burnt out or just staying afloat with my current workload. So, where is the balance?

Self-Care and Money

When it comes to your finances, the “treat yourself” mentality can be dangerous. What many people don’t consider is that self-care doesn’t have to be an expensive spa day. Self-care can simply be hitting the gym, going on a walk, unplugging to read a book and take a bath. Whatever your heart desires! It doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg.

Your self-care can also look like going over your budget and taking the time to organize your finances. If it reduces stress/anxiety in your life, DO IT. This is the meaning of self-care. You are unwinding, reducing stress, and making your life a little easier/better. No matter what way you look at it, practicing a regular self-care routine can make all the difference in the world.

All of this above is said to remind you to be easy with yourself and make sure your needs are being met. If you start taking better care of yourself, everything else will fall into place, including your finances.

Readers, how do you practice self-care?

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3 Free Printable Debt Free Charts and Trackers to Help You Reach Financial Freedom

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<p>We are looking forward to establishing some awesome New Year’s resolutions for our finances at the end of this year. I’ll be updating you all with that in no time, but it got me thinking about the tools people can use to help them reach their financial goals. Doing some looking around, I found some amazing debt free charts and other ways to stay motivated while tracking your progress.</p>::Pexels

We are looking forward to establishing some awesome New Year’s resolutions for our finances at the end of this year. I’ll be updating you all with that in no time, but it got me thinking about the tools people can use to help them reach their financial goals. Doing some looking around, I found some amazing debt free charts and other ways to stay motivated while tracking your progress.

Debt Snowball Chart

A debt snowball chart helps you manage your debt payoff method. Snowballing your debt means you take any additional money you have and put it towards paying off one of your accounts. You do this in order from smallest to largest amount owed. As you can see below, to organize this debt payoff method, you list the debts in order, along with the minimum payment due and your debt snowball payment.

<p>A debt snowball chart helps you manage your debt payoff method. Snowballing your debt means you take any additional money you have and put it towards paying off one of your accounts. You do this in order from smallest to largest amount owed. As you can see below, to organize this debt payoff method, you list the debts in order, along with the minimum payment due and your debt snowball payment.</p>::Pexels

Using this method of tracking can help you see how quickly you are making progress on your debt freedom journey and keep you motivated. Download an editable worksheet here or print a PDF version.

<p>If you think tracking the numbers might get boring for you, consider using a color-in debt free chart. You can print these online in various places and use them in various ways.</p>::Pexels

Color-In Debt Free Charts

If you think tracking the numbers might get boring for you, consider using a color-in debt free chart. You can print these online in various places and use them in various ways.

 

Savings Charts

While it isn’t a debt-free chart, per se, having a place to track your savings can be helpful too. There are a number of savings challenges on the internet that provide charts for helping you track your savings. Saving Advice is a hub of said challenges, including the 365-day money challenge, the 52-week savings challenge, and the 12-week savings challenge. Each of these can be tracked through a chart, like the debt snowball chart above, or you can use the color-in method to track your savings goals.

How to Create Your Own Debt Free Charts

Creating your own personalized debt freedom chart is fairly easy too. If none of the charts above suit your needs, simply follow these steps.

  1. Decide what your long-term goals are for your finances. Before you create a debt-free chart or any other finance tracker you’ll need to decide what you are tracking. Is it savings goals? Debt freedom goals? Investing goals?
  2. Determine how you want to break down the process. Then, once you know what you’d like to track, figure out how you are going to break it down. If you are tracking a debt-free goal, it may be best to track it by every $200 paid off (or whatever increment you decide).
  3. Figure out how you can stay motivated. If you know seeing the numbers will keep you motivated, consider something like the debt snowball chart above to track. Others may be more motivated by seeing a coloring sheet filled in. Whatever motivates you is what you should use.
  4. Start tracking. Once you decide on what will work best for you, start right away. You’ll put yourself that much closer to your financial goals by just biting the bullet and getting started.

No matter where you are in your journey, finding ways to stay motivated and track your progress is important. Consider printing out one or more of the debt-free charts above.

Readers, how do you track your progress? Share your ideas in the comments below!

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What is Rosanna Pansino’s Net Worth? Key Income Details

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<p>From her humble beginnings as a self-taught baker to becoming a household name in the world of digital media, Rosanna Pansino’s journey is nothing short of inspiring. While she may be best known for her successful YouTube channel, Nerdy Nummies, Pansino’s accomplishments extend far beyond the kitchen.</p>::Pexels
 

Rosanna Pansino’s Net Worth: Unveiling the Wealth of a YouTube Baking Sensation

 

 

From her humble beginnings as a self-taught baker to becoming a household name in the world of digital media, Rosanna Pansino’s journey is nothing short of inspiring. While she may be best known for her successful YouTube channel, Nerdy Nummies, Pansino’s accomplishments extend far beyond the kitchen.

 

 

Rosanna Pansino Growing Up

Rosanna Pansino was born in Seattle Washington on June 8, 1985. Her name “Rosanna” translate to “Rose of Grace” in Italian, and she is of Italian, Irish, German, and Croatian heritage. As a child, she always had an interest in the culinary arts and specifically banking, often helping her grandmother in the kitchen. Although she never had formal training , Rosanna’s passion for baking continued to grow as she got older. After high school, she then move to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the entertainment industry.

Rosanna worked as an actress and appeared in several commercials and TV shows. She still enjoyed baking and would experiment with different recipes in her spare time and share them with her friends and family while in LA. But little did she know that her passion would make her a multi-millionaire and one of the highest earning Youtube content creators today.

 

 

Youtube Channel & Nerdy Nummies

To share her love for baking with the world while adding a twist, Rosanna launched “Nerdy Nummies,” a channel dedicated to creating delicious treats inspired by anime characters, video games, and other pop culture references.

She launched “Nerdy Nummies” in 2010 at age 25 after being persuaded by a few of her Youtube celeb friends and her grandmother. But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. She was given an ultimatum by her agent; acting or Youtube. She went with the latter and the rest is record breaking history.

Her channel now consist of over 1200 videos, 4.2 billion views, and 14 million subscribers.

 

 

What is Rosanna Pansino’s Net Worth?

You may be wondering how much does Rosanna Pansino make.

As of 2023, her estimated net worth is $20 million. This impressive figure is a testament to Pansino’s entrepreneurial spirit and business acumen.

Pansino’s net worth and salary is a result of various income streams. Her YouTube channel alone generates over $5 million per year through ads, sponsorships, and merchandise sales. Additionally, Pansino has authored several best-selling cookbooks, further boosting her income. She has also collaborated with major brands, creating custom recipes and promotional content that aligns with the Rosanna Pansino.

But Pansino’s success is not solely measured by her financial achievements. She won the Shorty Award for Best Foodie in 2013, Kikkoman Breakout Foodies of the Year 2013, and received five Streamy Award nominations for her Nerdy Nummie content. Her “Nerdy Nummies Cookbook” also has a 5 star rating on Amazon, a rare feat.

 

 

Diversifying The Rosanna Pansino Brand

As Pansino’s popularity grew, she recognized the importance of diversifying her brand. While Nerdy Nummies remained at the core of her content, Pansino expanded her reach by creating additional series and content formats. She started incorporating challenges, collaborations with other YouTubers, and even began showcasing her everyday life through vlogs.

By diversifying her content, Pansino ensured that her audience remained engaged and interested. She recognized the importance of adapting to changing trends and evolving audience preferences. This flexibility and willingness to experiment allowed her to stay relevant in the ever-changing digital landscape.

How Tall is Rosanna Pansino?

Although she’s know for her “larger than life” bubbly personality, Rosanna’s height is 4′ 10″ (1.47 m).

 

How Old Is Rosanna Pansino?

Rosanna Pansino was born on June 8, 1985. As of  September 2023, she is 38 years old.

 

Is Rosanna Pansino Married?

No. However, she is in a long term committed relationship with Mike Lamond.

 

 

Conclusion

Her recipe for financial triumph includes a perfect blend of talent, creativity, hard work. Whether you’re a fan of Pansino’s delightful creations, an aspiring content creator, or a budding entrepreneur, let her journey serve as a reminder that with the right ingredients, you too can create a recipe for success that’s worth noticing.

 

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Now Is The Time To Prepare A Summer Spending Plan

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Our Summer Spending Plan

It may seem a bit early to you, but I’m ready to start prepping our family’s summer spending plan. Generally speaking, the warmer months tend to be more expensive for us. We go out more. This year, we may even get to take a day trip or two to the beach. Not to mention, the cost of cooling our home in the South can be shocking at times.

So, now that spring is officially here and warmer weather is on its way (it’s 85 degrees and sunny today), I’m ready to start plotting out some of our plans for the summer.

How Does Summer Impact Spending?

As I briefly mentioned above, the summertime tends to bring along some additional expenses for my family. Nobody wants to stay inside when it’s a beautiful warm day. So, there are often additional expenses that pop up.

Namely, our electric bill usually goes up to about $200/month from $100 or less during the winter months (we have gas heat). On top of that, it is generally a time of year when we take more trips, have more day adventures, and living is easy. We simply don’t always pay as close attention to our finances as we should from June to September.

That being said, we started tackling a summer spending plan a few years ago that helps us map out necessary expenses as well as things we’d like to do during the warmer months.

Our Summer Spending Plan

I haven’t written out our summer spending plan in its entirety yet, but I know we are planning to do a few things…

  1. We would really love to take our daughter to the beach. She hasn’t been yet and both of us would love to be able to do that this summer. We live within a 3-hour drive of several great beaches here, so that is doable on a budget. If necessary, we wouldn’t even have to stay overnight.
  2. Another small pool needs to be purchased for the backyard. Last year, we bought a baby pool for the backyard and, even though it cost about $10, it provided our little one with countless hours of fun!
  3. We need to adjust our monthly budget to account for the increased electricity and water costs for our home during the summer months.
  4. Our little one is also going to need new clothes. We don’t have any spring or summer clothes that fit her currently.

Right now, we are working on nailing down what our budget for the summer needs to be and how much money we will need to save for certain holidays, trips, etc. For instance, Father’s Day falls in June, we will budget a little extra money for the holiday and find something my husband would like to do.

We are still hashing out the details, but these are the four things impacting our summer spending plan right now. Readers, do you construct a different budget or spending plan for different seasons? I’d love to hear about how you manage it.

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Our 4th Wedding Anniversary Reflections

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<p>Our fourth wedding anniversary was on Saturday. Normally, your fourth anniversary is celebrated with flowers and fruit. We had planned to have a few baby-free hours, grab some lunch, and maybe head to a strawberry patch where you can pick your own fruit and flowers. Unfortunately, I came down with a bad cold Thursday and wasn’t on the mend. So, we had to stay in. However, when has anything gone perfectly to plan? It suited us well.</p>::Pexels

Our fourth wedding anniversary was on Saturday. Normally, your fourth anniversary is celebrated with flowers and fruit. We had planned to have a few baby-free hours, grab some lunch, and maybe head to a strawberry patch where you can pick your own fruit and flowers. Unfortunately, I came down with a bad cold Thursday and wasn’t on the mend. So, we had to stay in. However, when has anything gone perfectly to plan? It suited us well.

Despite being down for the count for a few days, I’ve taken some time to reflect on our first four years of marriage. Wow, have we come a long way!

How We Celebrated Our Wedding Anniversary

As I mentioned above, our plans didn’t exactly work out. I caught a pretty bad cold and didn’t feel up to going out. So, we improvised, which has gotten us where we need to be in life so far.

There was a UFC fight airing at a normal time on Saturday. Generally, the fights don’t start until way after my bedtime. However, Saturday’s fight was over by 8 p.m. My husband is a pretty big fan of the sport, so we decided to spend the money to watch the fight here at home.

Additionally, we ordered takeout so I didn’t have to worry about cooking food and spending energy I didn’t really have. We stayed on the couch and I read bits of my book in the commercial breaks. While it was far from what we had planned, it seemed to be the perfect way to spend the day.

Reflecting on the Last Four Years

Even though our initial plans didn’t wind up happening, we still had a perfect (for us) celebration. It always seems to work out that way for us, honestly. No matter what happens, we always have what we need.

When we got married, we’d actually planned a huge ceremony in November. Instead, my husband wound up getting a job offer in Atlanta. We got married in March and high-tailed it down 85 South to whatever waited for us in ATL. Unfortunately, things were pretty crazy there. The job my husband was offered was essentially a scam, the house we were supposed to stay in had holes in windows (and ghosts), and we weren’t sure what was going to happen next.

Things worked out though. We found a high-rise apartment, my husband found new work, and we kept things afloat. When life threw us more curveballs, we always seemed to find a way to hit it out of the park. Our first Christmas together married we had bed bugs in the building. Our first anniversary together was the day everything was shut down in the U.S. due to COVID-19. Despite that, we found ways to rise above everything and still celebrate our love.

All of this to say, I hope that you find someone in your life whose love truly conquers everything else. It is nothing short of being magical.

Readers, do you have any advice for us on our fourth wedding anniversary? 

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Creating A Personal Finance Calendar

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<p>I’ve come to the blog to talk about how we manage our money month-to-month before. I manage most of the money for our family, paying the bills and making sure we have cash where we need it when we need it. It’s not an easy task all the time, but it is well worth being able to live without scrounging paycheck to paycheck. However, I wouldn’t be able to do any of it without our personal finance calendar.</p>::Pexels

I’ve come to the blog to talk about how we manage our money month-to-month before. I manage most of the money for our family, paying the bills and making sure we have cash where we need it when we need it. It’s not an easy task all the time, but it is well worth being able to live without scrounging paycheck to paycheck. However, I wouldn’t be able to do any of it without our personal finance calendar.

When I started talking about my financial calendar to some of my friends, I realized I’m the only one taking this approach to money these days. For the most part, the people I talk to are plugged into some kind of app or tech solution that helps them keep an eye on their finances. While I’d love for that to be my life (so much less paper involved), it just doesn’t work for me. So, if you’re wondering about how you can create your own personal finance calendar, here’s how I organize mine.

What is a Personal Finance Calendar For?

A personal finance calendar will help you organize your financial life. Initially, I started using my PF calendar to get my budget down on paper. I marked down the days I’d go grocery shopping + the budgeted amount for the said shopping trip. I also jotted down the bills and what days they are due, plus the amount. Additionally, I added in the days we were getting paid and how much. Seeing everything written down on paper helped a lot.

That didn’t give me a full-picture view of my finances though. While it helped me pay my bills on time and stick to a budget, bigger expenses and other things tended to creep up on me. So, I decided to make some changes by adding bi-monthly, quarterly, bi-annual, and annual expenses to the calendar as well. This included things like car maintenance, property taxes, registration fees for the car, doctor’s bills, birthdays, holidays, vacations, celebrations, etc.

Going through and adding all of those things really made my financial calendar more well-rounded. It gave a full view of what we had going on, where our money is going, what we have planned, and what we are saving for.

Creating Your Own PF Calendar to Use

If you’re interested in creating your own personal finance calendar, it’s fairly easy. First, you need to gather a few things…

  1. Get a planner or a calendar to write down the necessary financial information . This doesn’t need to be fancy. You can get one at the Dollar Tree or Family Dollar!
  2. Scrap paper for lists, etc. is also a good idea. You will want to list out monthly expenses as well as other costs throughout the year before they go into your personal finance calendar.
  3. Buying a nice pen to write with might make a difference. I just love writing with a good pen. It makes me feel organized.
  4. Stickers and fun items can make the process more fun. You may even find some that correlate to your bills. For instance, we have “payday” stickers for the days we get paid.

Once you have what you need, it is time to start organizing your calendar. The first thing you want to write down is all of your expenses that remain the same month-to-month. For instance, we pay $1,767.50 in rent every month. That will not change until the end of the year when we renew our lease or move. The number $1,767.50 is written down along with “RENT” on the 1st day of every month. Similarly, our car payment of $698 is written down on the 14th of every month. Until we get it refinanced, this is the static monthly cost.

Once that is complete, start listing the expenses that may vary in cost each month. For example, you have to pay utilities on a monthly basis. However, our electric bill goes up in the summer due to running the air conditioning. In the winter, the gas bill is higher. Make an estimate for how much you’ll spend on these items (it’s a good idea to round up).

Following the addition of those costs, you can start adding in the less frequent expenses. For us, this includes our annual registration fees for our car, property tax on the vehicle, car maintenance, paying our taxes, renewing annual subscriptions, celebrating birthdays, holidays and vacations, and ensuring we have enough money to pay for annual check-ups.

That’s it – once you’ve jotted down all of the financial “things,” you have a reference point for managing your money throughout the rest of the year.

Readers, how do you stay on top of your finances? Do you use a personal finance calendar or other methods of organization? 

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Getting Ready For Tax Day

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Getting Ready for Tax Day

I’ve talked about tax season on the blog before. As you know, the closer to Tax Day we get, the more anxious I become. However, this year looks a bit different for our family. Thankfully, I’m not feeling very anxious about filing this year and we should have all of our paperwork soon to get things done.

Anxiety Around Tax Season

If you’re like me and feel anxious around tax time every year, we are not alone! In fact, surveys have shown that at least 69% of Americans feel anxious around this time of year. The pressure differs from generation to generation too.

I happen to fall in the category of millennials. Seventy-eight percent of this demographic reports feeling anxious around tax time. Additionally, 82% of Gen Zers, 69% of Gen Xers, and 50% of baby boomers report some kind of anxiety about filing.

This year, it seems the top concern for most people is that they will not get a refund that will make a difference in today’s economy. Many people are reporting refunds of only a few hundred dollars when they may have been expecting thousands. The average refund so far in the 2023 tax season has been about $1,997. That’s a startling 14% lower than last year. For some families, this makes a huge difference.

On top of that, there are worries about refunds being delayed for an extended period of time. Of course, everyone is concerned about getting audited because who wants to go through that?

How To Ease Your Tax Time Anxiety

I’ve been able to relieve some of my tax time anxiety this year by doing a few things to better prepare myself, mentally and otherwise, for Tax Day. First, we’ve been slowly gathering our paperwork since January 1. We both worked at a few different places last year, so there are a few things to sort through.

Next, give yourself time to file. The government is going to take its time getting you your refund either way. So, make sure you leave yourself room to go over your return a few times before submitting it to the IRS. Remember, if you need more time, you can file an extension as long as you do so before April 18.

Don’t ignore the IRS or the fact that you have to file. It’s part of life. Accept it. Grab some snacks and file your taxes! When you are done you can sigh a breath of relief and treat yourself to a nice meal. It can be stressful, but Tax Day doesn’t have to rule your life at this time of year.

Readers, do you have Tax Day anxiety? How do you cope?

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