A couple of days ago, I heard that the price of gas is expected to rise substantially in the near future. If you live in California, you may expect $4 a gallon or more. If you live in Hawaii, where the fuel has to be shipped in, you are probably paying that already, and wondering how it can possibly go any higher.

Unless you live within a mile of your job and shopping, you probably need to drive on a regular basis. If you live in a big city, the commute can really blow your gas budget.

While I cannot promise to save you enough to put your firstborn through college, I may be able to remind you of a few ideas that will keep a few bucks from being poured into your tank.

1. Carpool. Whenever possible, share a ride. Take turns driving kids to school, soccer practice or even going to work. Not only will it save your budget, it will also reduce pollution a smidgen.

2. Walk. If at all possible, take a walk. Americans in general are spoiled by transportation. For some, it is unheard of to even walk a couple of blocks to visit a friend. Take the time. Not only will you save gas, you may find yourself healthier in the process.

3. Ride a Bike. Recently, I have seen more people riding bikes to work and school. It may mean you have to start out a little earlier, but you will get used to it. In some countries, like Japan, where over population is a problem, you cannot simply go out and purchase a vehicle. You must prove you have a place to park your car before you can own one. Thus, many people ride bikes everywhere they go.

4. Plan the Route. A lot of people waste gas by not planning ahead. They often find themselves going from one end of town to the other, and back again. Instead, plan your route, so you can run all your errands in the most expedient manner and save gas as well.

How will you reduce your gas bill?

Tina

Am I insane!  No one thinks giving a significant portion of their hard earned income is a blessing!  However, before you send someone out to put me in the loony bin, consider the following circumstances:

The more money you make, the more income tax you are required to pay.  A blessing?  Yes, in a round-about way. If you had to pay more income tax last year, it means you also earned more in spendable income.

Consider the alternative.  For years, I did not even have to file income tax, because I did not even make enough to qualify. However, that did not mean I was doing great in the financial department.  I was going to school, newly divorced, and trying to raise two small children alone.  Financial speaking, we lived well below the poverty line.

Now, I have to file income tax.  Do I feel blessed?  Most definitely!

No, I do not always agree on how the government spends the income tax of its citizens.  Yes, I wish the politicians had to be as careful with their finances as the average household.  However, I still feel blessed.

I drive on the US highways; my freedom is protected by servicemen and women whose wages I help to pay.  Most importantly, if I have to pay taxes, it means that my personal financial situation has vastly improved.

So, before you begrudgingly file your income tax this year, consider the alternate.  Just maybe, you will consider the blessings of income tax. 

Just my thoughts,

Tina

No one looks forward to paying taxes, unless they are 100% sure of getting a refund.  If so, the forms are filed the minute all the necessary paperwork has been received.

On the other hand, the people who anticipate owing taxes generally wait until the last possible moment to file.  Thus, they are essentially taxed twice. Why?

Although we naturally budget for bills and other household expenses, many individuals fail to budget properly for their portion of income tax.  Thus, when tax time comes around, they are taxed emotionally and financially to meet they obligation to the IRS.  After all, we have all heard the old saying that the only sure things in life are death and taxes. 

If the IRS is owed, it expects to be paid on time.  If a citizen is late in remitting taxes, the interest and penalties can be astronomical.

So, if you are one who feels taxed in more ways than one, here is a little bit of advice:

1.  Think of your taxes as an expense, much like utilities or a car payment.

2.  If you owed taxes after filing out your forms last year, change your deductions. 

3.  If you are already claiming zero deductions, have an additional amount deducted throughout the year.  (What you don’t see in your paycheck, you won’t miss.)

4.  If you have children, start a tax free educational account.  The money will not be taxed if used for your child’s post-secondary schooling in the future.

5.  You can also contribute to charities. As long as the charity is registered as a non-profit organization with the federal government, it can also help reduce your tax bill, as well as helping the less fortunate. 

How do you keep from being taxed by your taxes?

Tina

What makes the holiday season special?  In my opinion it’s who you spend it with, not how much you spend on it.  Contrary to what retailers would have you think, you can have a perfectly fulfilling holiday season without setting foot in a store or hitting any door buster sales.

Thanks to the shopping on the Internet you can find some of the best deals available and have them delivered to your door; saving you time, money, and stress.  Instead of spending your time trudging through the crowds, you can spend it with the ones you care about most.  Of course, you’ll also have time to check out some of the good money posts this week.

Five Cent Nickel talks about the alternative minimum tax and the Digerati Life offers up answers to tax questions.

To help cover the growth in social lending options, Lazy Man & Money is launching a new peer-to-peer lending carnival.

Generation X Finance discusses shady Fed mortgages and Suns Financial Diary lets us know about a $100 bonus  for opening an account with OptionXpress.

Free Money Finance suggests the best way to spend your year end bonus and the Mighty Bargain Hunter covers end-of-year bargains.

No Credit Needed is sick of credit card applications and Blueprint for Financial Prosperity takes a look at different types of bank accounts.

Get Rich Slowly talks about the value of social capital and The Simple Dollar gives tips on finding a mentor.

Happy Holidays!

You don’t cheer when it is time to do your income taxes? You wait until April 15th at 11:59 PM to mail your filing? What if the thought of paying your taxes did not have to make you hyperventilate? Tax season will be here before you know it, here are a few tips that might make tax time a little less stressful:

1. If you are self employed, do not forget to file quarterly. Then, you will not have to worry about insurmountable debt at the end of the year.

2. Make sure you pay enough. If your withholdings or estimated payments aren’t large enough during the year, the IRS can fine you.

3. If you do not want Uncle Sam to earn the interest on your hard earned money, pay less quarterly, but make sure you set enough aside in your savings account to cover the difference at the end of the year. Unfortunately, the standard estimate for a self-employed person is approximately 1/3 of your gross income, since you have to be concerned about Social Security and state taxes as well.

4. Filing electronically is faster and easier. Gather all of your tax forms together and file electronically. Unless you have an extremely complicated tax situation, this will save you the cost of paying a tax preparer, yet ensure that you get all the deductions for which you are entitled.

The program will ask a series of questions, provide all the pertinent forms, and make provision for you to electronically sign. As a result, if you are entitled to a refund, the amount can be directly deposited into your bank account in less than 3 weeks.

Please share your tax advice, so we can all quit dreading April 15th.

Tina

Have I lost all sense of reason!  Christmas 2007 is barely history, and I have the audacity to ask if you are ready for Christmas 2008!

We have spent several days talking about the stress and expense of the holiday season.  We have also shared many ideas on how to make Christmas special without having to go into months of debt and more stress.

Now, before we put the warm fuzzy feelings of the holidays and the back burner for the next eleven months, let’s revisit one more way to stretch your finances for Christmas 2008. 

The day after Christmas, the sales start. Savvy shoppers plan ahead-12 months to be exact.

My brother’s first wife started shopping for Christmas in January.  She kept a list of all the friends and family for whom she wanted to purchase gifts.  As soon as the after-Christmas sales hit, she would keep her eyes open for the perfect gift.  If spotted at a reasonable price, the purchase was squirreled away at the top of the closet until time for Christmas wrapping.

While the rest of the family is sweating Christmas purchases and affording the holiday expense, she was already done, and looking forward to the festivities.  In fact, she was usually done before the year was half gone. 

Actually, her approach to Christmas shopping can also apply to buying a different car, saving for a down-payment on a new home, buying new furniture, or affording any major purchase.

So, how do you plan for your major expenditures?

Tina

So, you succumbed to the temptation and used your charge card to get you through the holidays.  Well, you can’t turn back the clock, nor stop the mailman from coming, but you can still exercise a little damage control.

Right now, get out your scissors and cut your way through to financial success. Although it may seem painful now, you will thank yourself tomorrow.  Cut through that magnetic strip or put your charge card through the shredder, either way will work.

If you can’t bring yourself to get rid of your financial security blanket, enlist your kid, nephew, or niece.  For once, they will have permission to destroy something and not get into trouble!

I speak from personal experience. While I was going to college and raising two small children on child support and food stamps, I used my good credit to pay the winter utility bills, buy groceries at the end of the month, purchase school clothes, and more. Well, you can guess what happened.

Suffice it to say, this year I liberated myself. Long before the holidays I took the shredder and a pair of scissors to my credit cards. Now, I am no longer tempted to spend money I do not have in the first place.

As a result, this Christmas was a cash and carry holiday.

Yes, I could still order items through the Internet.  However, I had to use my checking account debit card.  If the money wasn’t in the checkbook, I didn’t need what I wanted to buy after all.

I may still have a mountain of bills to pay off, but I have climbed to the top.  I know the mountain is not going to get any higher in 2008, because my scissors cut to financial success.

How do you plan to reach your financial goals next year?

Tina

As you scurry around trying to finish your last minute gift shopping in the final days before Christmas, keep in mind that the next few days can be a great time to prepare to make some money on eBay.  The following four tips can help you make some extra money to help pay off those holiday bills:

eBay Feedback
If you’ve done any of your Christmas shopping on eBay then you’ve already built up a feedback profile that will make others comfortable doing business with you.  If you haven’t purchased anything there before now is a good time to get some great deals on things you can put away as future Christmas or birthday gifts.  Sellers have flooded the site with auctions to meet the holiday rush and typically the more people selling a product, the lower the price goes, with exceptions such as the Nintendo Wii.

Free Shipping Supplies
You and your family will likely open gifts in the week ahead and with gifts almost always come boxes.  Save the boxes and packaging material as you open presents and you’ll have free shipping supplies!

Big Discounts
As we get closer to the day of Christmas retailers continue to offer sales and once the holiday is over they will offer big discounts on many products.  Take advantage of these low prices as they try and move out inventory.  If you can buy it for a big discount chances are you can re-sell it at some point in the future for a handsome return on investment.

Unwanted Gifts
Another inevitable side effect of the season of gift giving are people who end up with presents they don’t really want.  In some cases there is no gift receipt so they’re stuck with what they got.  In other situations the thought of standing in long return lines prevents people from taking back or exchanging unwanted gifts.

So what does this have to do with you?  Offer to sell your friends, families, neighbors, or co-workers unwanted presents for them on eBay and take a commission.  They get rid of something they don’t want and you make some extra money, win/win.

Of course the best thing about the holiday season is the time you get to spend relaxing with your family but that doesn’t mean you can’t think ahead for some pre-emptive eBay action.  Enjoy!

A few days ago, I was watching a reality television program showing video footage of Black Friday shoppers in action. At first, I thought I was going to have to switch channels or turn off the set. As I watched in shock and disbelief people literally trampled each other to obtain a limited sale item. One lady actually stole a toy out of the hands of a child.

My questions: Why suffer the merry mob madness mentality? Why does Christmas have to be so stressful that people actually lose all their inhibitions and common sense just to get the perceived best gift for Christmas? Why do people spend money they do not have, to buy the hottest gift?

How often have you gone broke to find the perfect gift, only to discover the recipient did not think the gift was so perfect after all?

For example, the year my daughter was 4 or 5, she desperately wanted this kitchen set she had seen advertised on television. She hinted and begged for months. So, when Christmas came around, her dad and I only had one major gift in mind. There was only one problem: he was stationed in a military base overseas at the time. Plus, we did not have Internet access.

For weeks, I spent long-distance money and time, trying to find the specific kitchen set that she wanted. Finally, I found the item in the states. Unfortunately, because of the bulk, they could not affordably ship the toy to the base. Now what!

Finally, her dad found a toy store off base that could get the kitchen set! Yeah! No! I kid you not; traffic is so bad, that it can take 4 hours to go the 40 miles to the toy store. But, being our only child at the time, and being so far away from home, we wanted her to have this much wanted toy.

Guess what? Although she was initially excited, she only played with the toy a handful of times; then, she totally lost interest.

How many times have you busted the budget and bought the perfect Christmas gift, only to find it gathering dust or returned to the store for a refund or different item?

The last few days of the shopping season are upon you. Do not subscribe to the merry mob madness mentality. Do not let Christmas put you in the poorhouse, or cause you to lose all sense of emotional or financial reason.

I doubt anyone would contest the idea that Christmas is becoming more commercialized than in the past. Christmas decorations adorn the stores before Halloween has come and gone.

For many people, the rush to start the holiday season did not bring warm feelings of holiday cheer. Instead, the mental cash register starts ringing and the financial obligations of Christmas become a heavy burden. Thus, many people are often depressed throughout the holidays

For many, 2007 has been a difficult year economically. Keeping food on the table has been the priority; forget having anything extra to spend for Christmas. In fact, a family I know, who have 4 small children, says that Santa is not coming to their house this year.

How sad that Christmas has become a time of financial burden. So, I am going to take an idea from a reader’s recent comment, and suggest a homemade holiday.

First, may I suggest reading Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder? Once you read how last century’s families had to live during the holidays; most of us will actually feel wealthy. Next, I want to suggest some good Christmas ideas that will not result in a slew of bills come January:

Cookies: Who doesn’t like to eat? Make a plate of Christmas goodies to give to friends and family this holiday season. It is a thoughtful gift that took you time, because you cared, yet cost very little.

Christmas Cards: Make the cards this year. Especially if you have children, make homemade Christmas cards. As a mom, an Aunt, a daughter, and a friend, I love handmade cards. For every card, the giver has shared his/her heart. It is not a present pulled off the shelf out of a sense of obligation.

IOUs: I mentioned this in a previous post. If my daughter gave me an IOU to cook supper one night, do a chore, or something else, I would be touched, and her wallet would not get thinner.

Crafts: One year, I made Christmas tree ornaments. You can make them from family photos and things you probably already have around the house. If you crochet, you can make snowflakes, bells, angels, and more with a little crochet thread and time. You don’t even have to buy the starch to make them stiff and formed. Boiled equal parts of water and sugar will do the trick. (Sticky at first, the dry ornaments will no longer be sugary to the touch.)

Cocoa: Make batches of homemade cocoa mix, put it in a decorate jar. It can make a yummy gift for months to come.

Okay, now I am passing the baton. We already have great ideas from one reader who wants to bring the Joy of Christmas before the financial burden. What are your ideas? How are you making a homemade holiday this year?

Tina