Posts Tagged ‘bills’
Written on January 28th, 2012 by Samanthano shouts
How can you start off the year better than the last—start managing your money better from the start of it. This is such a simple idea and easy to follow. Take the beginning of this year to chart out a way to have a better grip on your finances.
January is coming to a close, so most of the mood for procrastination should also be coming to a close. Take this time to make a basic outline of how you want the next few months to turn out—financially. Map out all of your usual financial obligations by each quarter or individual month of the year. Let’s get started.
January through March
Get all of your holiday finances in order. By now, all of the credit card charges that you made over the holiday season should be posted and ready for payment. Paying the minimum amount due may suffice; however, paying even 5%-10% more can make a tremendous difference in the long run. Paying off all of your holiday debt should be your ultimate goal.
Look at your calendar and figure out what key events will effect you finances and just jot them down accordingly—a simple title will do to get you started, you can always follow-up with details at another time. It is just important that you get that much done, for now.
Stay on track and pay down that debt.
Tax time is right around the corner. If you have not already, now is a good time to gather up all of the necessary paperwork for filing. Check in with you accountant and discuss the details on what you may need for this year as your needs can change from year to year. Be sure to check in with your accountant early to find out his or her availability.
Start thinking about what you want to do this summer. Will you be going on a vacation? Will you be staying home? If you have children, will you be sending them to summer camp? These are all serious expenses that you should start considering and planning for.
April through June
Spring is in the air and so are new expenses—new spring and summer wardrobe to consider, home repairs and improvements, more holidays and special events to plan for. Parties, graduations, and outings may dominate the latter part of the spring for you and your family. Be sure that you have planned well to meet all of the accommodations you want to offer.
Keep all of this in mind and stick to the financial outline that you have created with your calendar in January.
July through September
Summer is officially here. Your wardrobe has officially changed by now. Be sure to have a hold on any related purchasing expenses and continue to keep up your payment plans. Keep a close eye on your calendar for reference. You should be continuously plotting in details for the general goal titles you have posted on your calendar already.
Big holidays like Independence Day can be quite expensive. Be sure to have a set budget for this. If you are hosting a party, get invitees to bring something to cut down on your own expenses. If you’re traveling to a party, be sure that you have money saved for gas, lodging, and other related traveling expenses. The same goes for family reunions, get-togethers, anniversary parties, and Labor Day.
By the time Labor Day arrives, you should already have your child’s back to school expenses planned out—or perhaps your own back to school expenses to think about. There should be a lot of really good sales going on from late July through August on targeted back to school items.
October through December
The biggest holidays of the year are well on the way—Thanksgiving, Christmas and other religious holidays, and New Years.
By late October and early November, you should really think about how you will be spending your Thanksgiving. Will you be hosting or going to visit someone else? The same goes for upcoming religious holidays, and of course New Years as well.
These holidays usually require the most money effort so plan early on costs for hosting a holiday gathering, gifts, and wardrobe.
Sticking to a basic plan and plotting your way through the year will prove to be a tremendous help. Be sure to modify your calendar with more details and continue to personalize it for new events as you become aware of them.
Written on December 19th, 2011 by Samanthano shouts
Times have been tough for all us lately. The economy has forced many Americans to do without the usual and consistent luxuries. However, American women have adapted and even drove a particular market sky high—nail polish. Isn’t that simply amazing? There are plenty of beauty rituals that do not need to be put off because of the overturned economy. Become a do-it-yourself person, and get the most out of your own natural talents.
Nail Shop Envy
Consistent trips to a nail beauty salon used to be a grooming necessity. Now, it has become an every now and again luxury for many. A typical manicure and pedicure costs about $25 – $30 dollars, with a modest tip for the nail technician. That is a total cost of approximately $60 dollars per month, or approximately $720 dollars per year—when you add that up at the typical bi-weekly visiting rate for nail grooming. This does not include transportation costs, or the purchasing of a quick snack and beverage while waiting to be seated for services. That is a lot of money that can be used elsewhere, and for a more long lasting or productive purpose.
American Women Are Doing It For Themselves
Self-serve has taken on a whole new meaning this year. The numbers of self-grooming products are proving it—nail polish and nail products in particular. Nail polish products buying by average American women has gone up a whopping 59% for the better part of this year, according to the NPD Group market research firm. That is up from the same time in 2010.
Women are able to take care of this task themselves, and the opportunity to change up their look is endless. There is no need to wait for bi-weekly grooming, or for your favorite nail technician to be available. With the colder weather upon us, it can also be a bit more troublesome experience—try to get a pair of socks, boots, and gloves on after a fresh Mani Pedi. All that has to be done is to pick up a bottle of nail polish from a local beauty supply and voila—instant beauty makeover. This is quick, inexpensive, less time consuming, and truly gratifying.
Women just can’t seem to get enough.
Real Beauty
Women who want to be beautiful will find a way to achieve it without the salon. There are lots of beauty treatments that can be done at home. There are homemade beauty wrap recipes and products. Natural product facemask recipes for all complexions are easy to find with the some online research. YouTube is loaded with a plethora of instructional beauty regimen videos. Bring the spa experience home by adding romantic scents to the home atmosphere while performing a home beauty regimen. Make a party out of it by inviting some friends over. Get ready for the holidays—and save some money while you are at it.
With a bit of research women can find a ton of recipes on homemade beauty techniques, at a fraction of the cost of going to a beauty parlor or salon. That’s your beauty bonus.
Resources:
Reuters: http://www.reuters.com
Yahoo!: http://www.yahoo.com
Written on September 13th, 2011 by credit2meno shouts
Avoiding collection calls won’t get them off your back. You have to take action when you can’t pay your bills. Too often, the lenders are seen as the enemy but they are really just trying to get what is due to them. Of course they should be treating you with respect when you talk to them on the phone. Being late on bills isn’t just cause for them to harass you.
If you can’t pay your bills on time, contact who you owe and let them know. They may be able to have you pay an interest only payment for a few months. You won’t pay anything on principal. Then they will tack those payments on to the very end of your loan. They may be able to reduce your payment as well into smaller amounts, but you will have to pay for it over a longer period of time.
Still, being able to get your debts reduced can ease the monthly burden of what you have to pay out. As your circumstances improve, you can start to pay more to the lenders once again. If you owe a large amount of money, you may be able to get a lump sum settlement. This will pay off what you owe and then you can be free and clear from it.
When you accept such a settlement, make sure you get something in writing that verifies what the agreement will be. That way you have some proof should the attempt to come after you again in the future for the remaining balance.
You want to do all you can to avoid your bills going to collection agencies. When that happens you may have to pay legal fees and fines on top of what you already owe. This will only compound the problems that you have. When creditors don’t hear from you, they will assume that you don’t care. They may freeze your bank account or they can garnish your wages to get what you owe to them.
There are plenty of debt consolidation companies out there, but you do have to be careful. Many of them charge high fees and that is money that could be going to pay down your debt. They can negotiate balances, but you should be able to do that on your own with many creditors.
You may find that consolidating your debt though is a good idea. You will want to carefully evaluate the overall cost of it. If the rate of interest will be low enough, it could save you a large sum of money. You may find that getting a home equity loan can help you to pay off your debts. Then you can start over with a clean slate and have peace of mind. You don’t want to worry every time your phone rings that it is someone trying to get you to pay a bill.
Written on August 26th, 2011 by credit2meno shouts
Nothing will create problems in a marriage faster than money problems. When two people are married, they may have very different ideas about what to do with their money. One many be a saver while the other is a spender. If your marriage is going to be one of harmony, you have to discuss the finances.
Too many households allow that to be the elephant in the room. They are tense about the bills but they don’t talk about it. One spouse may be rushing home to get the mail before the other can see the bills coming in. It can be tough, but coming clean about the bills and finances can save your marriage.
When a couple can see eye to eye on how to handle their money, it means they work as a team. It doesn’t mean you have to give up your own thoughts about it. Instead, come to some compromises and stick to them. For example, if you are a saver then agree on a set amount of money that you will both put into savings monthly.
If you are a spender, then agree to a set amount of money that you will spend on various purchases during a month. Once that money is gone, then you won’t spend any more until the following month. Such rules can be difficult at first, but you will find that they do help your marriage and your finances.
If your budget could use some work, do it as a team. Write down what you have to spend your money on to keep the household running. Then write down all the extras. Each of you should get to pick a few items on that list of options that you want to keep. For you it could be your magazine subscription. For your spouse it could be golf on Sunday.
You will find that there are many other things you can do to cut down on the spending. For example, it may be time to trade in a large vehicle for one that is better on gas. If you go out to eat often, do it only once a week and cook great meals with each other the rest of the week.
Talking about money isn’t easy in most marriages, but the more you do it the easier it will become. Set a time each month when you can sit down together to pay bills and to go over expenses. It isn’t fair for one person to have that responsibility in the household. Create financial goals too that you can both be working towards.