No. We have an accountant that does it for us and has for a few years. I'm self-employed, work from home and the piece of mind we get from having a professional do it is worth the money we pay for it.
I'll do my own taxes again this year. I'm self-employed and I have investment income.
I've used ezTaxReturn.com the past three years. It costs $39.95, which covers NY taxes as well as the 1040, schedules B, C (2 of 'em), D, SE and form 8880. Helluva deal. Of course, I have to do the keystrokes by myself - consumes about three hours a year...organization really counts here. I usually receive my refunds in a couple weeks' time.
I filed my own taxes this year. My state taxes were a bit more complicated since I moved across state lines last year, but I'm pretty sure they're correct
Before you can save, it is critical to know exactly how much you spend for everything. Just keeping a journal of what you spend for a few weeks will reveal where your money is going. it may shock you! I've been able to reduce my expenses by becoming aware of what I really need--not what I want or am impulsively driven to buy. The extra money I've saved has allowed me to have an emergency fund and sock away much needed money towards my retirement.
Ways to save small amounts of cash that add up over time: paying strict attention to bank fees and overdrafts, renegotiating cable and phone bills, bringing coffee and lunch from home, understanding food labels (especially price per portion), doing my own manicure/pedicures, shopping from my own closet and using the slow cooker to make meals to freeze for later. Your money is like a leaky hose unless you plug up the holes.
Getting a job is nowadays very difficult, even if you have experience also they are not ready to pay for your experience. i am from india, not not in india all the country's happening the same thing. instead of taking loans for education, take loans to start a business. :)
"73% of doctors who reviewed 5-Hour Energy said they would recommend a low calorie energy supplement to their healthy patients who use energy supplements." Interesting - this does not say doctors specifically recommend 5-Hour Energy; it doesn't even say *what kind* of energy supplement they recommend. Very careful wording - probably deliberately constructed to avoid legal action.
I completely agree. My mom has dealt with compulsive hoarding for many years; consequently I find myself on the opposite end of the spectrum, compulsive purging. I stopped doing freecycle because for one, I had neither the patience nor sweat equity (lol), and two, I had several instances where someone came and seemed to get a rush from simply acquiring the things in my living room. I couldn't have that on my conscience, so I donate items to shelters (men's shelters, for example, are in desperate need of just about everything).
thanks to everyone who has given their comment to this thank you to both the positive & negative comments because the positive comments have actually changed my mind about activating it...because I no longer have a bank account so when I do get a job it shall be a very big help to me & my family!!!!! thank you all
I used to go to a gym to do the standard lifting of heavy weights. I recently joined a Crossfit gym and a lot of those workouts (WoD - Workout of the Day) use a lot of bodyweight for the routines. You could go on some gym's site to get an idea of the workouts and modify it at home, but the key is intensity for 20 minutes. You could put together a few of the different ones above and shoot for AMRAP(As Many Rounds As Possible) in a 20 minute period. For example, see how many rounds of 20 push-ups, 20 sit-ups, and 20 jumping squats you can do in 20 minutes.
Paying down debt should be one of the first ones listed with along with penalties. The interest on that might as well be considered it. People always wonder if they should pay down debt first, build up savings first, or work on both at the same time. For me, if a credit card is charging 18% interest and a savings account is only earning less than 1% interest, it makes more sense to put all money towards the debt to stop the interest. Of course, everyone's situation is different and they will need to evaluate what works best for them. Get that debt paid down as fast as you can, and you not only have that weight lifted off of your shoulders, but your credit score goes up as well earning you better interest rates in the future.
great article. one book that was really helpful was i will teach you to be rich when i was starting to organize my finances. if you're interested in more ways to save through sharing deals with friends, check out http://havocado.launchrock.com
Those fees are not fair. It is also not fair to make the unemployed pay income tax, state or federal. If you have no money why is the Sheriff of Nottingham (IRS and state) collecting taxes?
Yes! In fact, I think that could be made even broader -- people (male or female) often think "that's not appropriate for ME" for things they totally can do, but that might take some effort to learn. For example, I wasn't great at sports in high school, so for years I thought I wasn't good at anything physical. But now that I'm older, I recognize that that's not the case, and I'm having a lot of fun trying different types of exercise. (Last week I did a circus aerials class!)
I'm actually in a similar situation, Mary! I've lived alone for the past two years, and I LOVE it. But I've also been thinking about how I'd like to do things like travel more, and getting a roommate is an easy way to make that happen faster.
I also drink one glass of wine a day for health reasons, so many antioxidants in one glass :) I love box wines, problem is most of the finest brands only sell in bottles.
Hi Kim -- I'm very happy to hear that this hasn't been a burden for you. A lot of people have complained about the time lag. CA has one of the better prepaid cards. Only a minority are doing what you're doing and transferring the money to their own account. It would be great if CA could publicize this approach more. Kudos to you for figuring out the system!
We live in New Jersey and this was my concern when my wife was receiving Family Medical Leave money, funneled through through the same system as unemployment. We did not pay a single fee. We saw, on their website, that you could schedule an ACH transfer for free. We scheduled a transfer everytime she expected a check, and the next day it was in her bank account. Also, when she was on unemployment in 2011 before, we thought it was direct deposit, not through a card, but maybe things have changed now.
Oh looks like Kim has had the same experience in California.
I do almost all of these monthly and now make all of my own laundry soap, liquid fabric softener, dishwasher detergent, etc. Those alone feel like they save me hundreds.
Getting a roommate is my plan as of now. I have been living alone for quite some time now and I LOVE it. I moved out on my own when I realized I was going to have to stay for a fifth year of college. I loved my roommates all four years previous but I had had enough with living with at least one other girl if not three. It wasn't even the bathroom sharing that was the problem. It was their inability to ever clean or their ability to eat all the food in the fridge, even if it wasn't theirs. It was the things like this that convinced me to move out on my own but the more I look at my bills and rent, I realize how much cheaper it would be for me to split the cost with some one else. Especially my cable and Internet bill. It'd be the same price but with a roommate, I would only have to pay half and I wouldn't mind that at all.
Hi Linda - great questions. Some cards will waive the first year membership fee, which gives you enough time to satisfy the spending requirements, get the miles, then cancel the card.
Also - with any credit cards - you can try calling customer service and asking them to reduce or waive the fee. It actually works (sometimes)!
And in some cases it's worth the membership fee to get a whack of points with a bonus sign-up offer....(again cancelling the card before the year is up to save further membership fees).
I haven't done a lot of credit card applications, largely because of my full-time travel lifestyle, and as a Canadian I don't have as many opportunities as US citizens do.
But Chris does very well by it - as do many others.
No. We have an accountant that does it for us and has for a few years. I'm self-employed, work from home and the piece of mind we get from having a professional do it is worth the money we pay for it.
I'll do my own taxes again this year. I'm self-employed and I have investment income.
I've used ezTaxReturn.com the past three years. It costs $39.95, which covers NY taxes as well as the 1040, schedules B, C (2 of 'em), D, SE and form 8880. Helluva deal. Of course, I have to do the keystrokes by myself - consumes about three hours a year...organization really counts here. I usually receive my refunds in a couple weeks' time.
I'm filing my own taxes this year as usual.
I've been doing them for the past few years... Don't wanna break tradition.
I filed my own taxes this year. My state taxes were a bit more complicated since I moved across state lines last year, but I'm pretty sure they're correct
TurboTax makes it easy after you gather your data
Before you can save, it is critical to know exactly how much you spend for everything. Just keeping a journal of what you spend for a few weeks will reveal where your money is going. it may shock you! I've been able to reduce my expenses by becoming aware of what I really need--not what I want or am impulsively driven to buy. The extra money I've saved has allowed me to have an emergency fund and sock away much needed money towards my retirement.
Ways to save small amounts of cash that add up over time: paying strict attention to bank fees and overdrafts, renegotiating cable and phone bills, bringing coffee and lunch from home, understanding food labels (especially price per portion), doing my own manicure/pedicures, shopping from my own closet and using the slow cooker to make meals to freeze for later. Your money is like a leaky hose unless you plug up the holes.
Getting a job is nowadays very difficult, even if you have experience also they are not ready to pay for your experience. i am from india, not not in india all the country's happening the same thing. instead of taking loans for education, take loans to start a business. :)
"73% of doctors who reviewed 5-Hour Energy said they would recommend a low calorie energy supplement to their healthy patients who use energy supplements." Interesting - this does not say doctors specifically recommend 5-Hour Energy; it doesn't even say *what kind* of energy supplement they recommend. Very careful wording - probably deliberately constructed to avoid legal action.
I completely agree. My mom has dealt with compulsive hoarding for many years; consequently I find myself on the opposite end of the spectrum, compulsive purging. I stopped doing freecycle because for one, I had neither the patience nor sweat equity (lol), and two, I had several instances where someone came and seemed to get a rush from simply acquiring the things in my living room. I couldn't have that on my conscience, so I donate items to shelters (men's shelters, for example, are in desperate need of just about everything).
thanks to everyone who has given their comment to this thank you to both the positive & negative comments because the positive comments have actually changed my mind about activating it...because I no longer have a bank account so when I do get a job it shall be a very big help to me & my family!!!!! thank you all
I used to go to a gym to do the standard lifting of heavy weights. I recently joined a Crossfit gym and a lot of those workouts (WoD - Workout of the Day) use a lot of bodyweight for the routines. You could go on some gym's site to get an idea of the workouts and modify it at home, but the key is intensity for 20 minutes. You could put together a few of the different ones above and shoot for AMRAP(As Many Rounds As Possible) in a 20 minute period. For example, see how many rounds of 20 push-ups, 20 sit-ups, and 20 jumping squats you can do in 20 minutes.
Paying down debt should be one of the first ones listed with along with penalties. The interest on that might as well be considered it. People always wonder if they should pay down debt first, build up savings first, or work on both at the same time. For me, if a credit card is charging 18% interest and a savings account is only earning less than 1% interest, it makes more sense to put all money towards the debt to stop the interest. Of course, everyone's situation is different and they will need to evaluate what works best for them. Get that debt paid down as fast as you can, and you not only have that weight lifted off of your shoulders, but your credit score goes up as well earning you better interest rates in the future.
great article. one book that was really helpful was i will teach you to be rich when i was starting to organize my finances. if you're interested in more ways to save through sharing deals with friends, check out http://havocado.launchrock.com
Those fees are not fair. It is also not fair to make the unemployed pay income tax, state or federal. If you have no money why is the Sheriff of Nottingham (IRS and state) collecting taxes?
Yes! In fact, I think that could be made even broader -- people (male or female) often think "that's not appropriate for ME" for things they totally can do, but that might take some effort to learn. For example, I wasn't great at sports in high school, so for years I thought I wasn't good at anything physical. But now that I'm older, I recognize that that's not the case, and I'm having a lot of fun trying different types of exercise. (Last week I did a circus aerials class!)
It's going to be a good one! =)
I'm actually in a similar situation, Mary! I've lived alone for the past two years, and I LOVE it. But I've also been thinking about how I'd like to do things like travel more, and getting a roommate is an easy way to make that happen faster.
I also drink one glass of wine a day for health reasons, so many antioxidants in one glass :) I love box wines, problem is most of the finest brands only sell in bottles.
Hi Kim -- I'm very happy to hear that this hasn't been a burden for you. A lot of people have complained about the time lag. CA has one of the better prepaid cards. Only a minority are doing what you're doing and transferring the money to their own account. It would be great if CA could publicize this approach more. Kudos to you for figuring out the system!
Hi FakeTillMake -- You make a good point that some people aren't tech savvy and this is especially stressful for those folks. Thanks for weighing in!
We live in New Jersey and this was my concern when my wife was receiving Family Medical Leave money, funneled through through the same system as unemployment. We did not pay a single fee. We saw, on their website, that you could schedule an ACH transfer for free. We scheduled a transfer everytime she expected a check, and the next day it was in her bank account. Also, when she was on unemployment in 2011 before, we thought it was direct deposit, not through a card, but maybe things have changed now.
Oh looks like Kim has had the same experience in California.
I do almost all of these monthly and now make all of my own laundry soap, liquid fabric softener, dishwasher detergent, etc. Those alone feel like they save me hundreds.
Getting a roommate is my plan as of now. I have been living alone for quite some time now and I LOVE it. I moved out on my own when I realized I was going to have to stay for a fifth year of college. I loved my roommates all four years previous but I had had enough with living with at least one other girl if not three. It wasn't even the bathroom sharing that was the problem. It was their inability to ever clean or their ability to eat all the food in the fridge, even if it wasn't theirs. It was the things like this that convinced me to move out on my own but the more I look at my bills and rent, I realize how much cheaper it would be for me to split the cost with some one else. Especially my cable and Internet bill. It'd be the same price but with a roommate, I would only have to pay half and I wouldn't mind that at all.
Hi Linda - great questions. Some cards will waive the first year membership fee, which gives you enough time to satisfy the spending requirements, get the miles, then cancel the card.
Also - with any credit cards - you can try calling customer service and asking them to reduce or waive the fee. It actually works (sometimes)!
And in some cases it's worth the membership fee to get a whack of points with a bonus sign-up offer....(again cancelling the card before the year is up to save further membership fees).
I haven't done a lot of credit card applications, largely because of my full-time travel lifestyle, and as a Canadian I don't have as many opportunities as US citizens do.
But Chris does very well by it - as do many others.