FPU: Big Tax Return = Big Screen TV! NOT!!

federal-income-tax-return

There may have been a time in our lives when a large tax return meant some new expensive toy for the family.   We are no longer those people and have really changed how we look at our tax returns.

In 2010 we embarked on a new journey to become debt free after attending Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University class at our church.   We are still working on that journey. The entire experience has been  life changing for us.   This experience changes how we look at our tax return.   Most of our tax return is earmarked before we even receive it.  We fully fund irregular expenses we know we will experience in the upcoming year.

I must admit: This practice would most likely not be endorsed by Dave Ramsey.  He would like you to manage your money and not have the government hold onto it for you all year.  For us, it works as it actually forces us to live beneath our means.  It is a fool-proof way to save funds that we know we can’t touch until we file our taxes. If the government makes an extra 5 bucks in interest off of our withholding, then they can keep it and we’ll appreciate that this money was saved for us Smile

That being said, you can bet we file our taxes very early in the tax season.  We file our taxes the first Saturday in February.  Since we both claim “single-zero” on for payroll deductions our return is usually pretty big.

For 2014, the following will be fully funded from our tax return:

Debt Reduction – we will pay off our last credit card, if there is still a balance once we receive our tax return. (That card is down to about 1 and 1/2 payments til zeroed-out.)

Emergency Fund – will be fully funded at $2000.

Car Insurance – set aside enough funds to pay car insurance on all vehicles every 6 months to receive a discount.

Christmas – yes, we fully fund Christmas in February!  What peace of mind!  (Because you know Christmas is going to happen again this year.)

City of WBL – irregular bills are hard to budget for so we fully fund them from our tax return.  This a quarterly bill that used-to sneak up on us at times….not anymore!!

Soccer Fees –  our youngest plays traveling soccer

Camp – our youngest goes to camp each year.

Duct Cleaning –  This year we are having the ducts in our home cleaned.  Between illnesses and allergies, it seemed like a good thing to get done.  This was last done in 2007.

Summer Fun – this is a new category we are funding this year.  We found that small parties, mini-weekend-vacations and other fun events over the summer wreaked havoc on our budget.  This year we set aside extra money to go to participate in summer fun!

Training – as a licensed social worker, I need to attend 40 hours of training every 2 years to renew my license.   I need to complete 26 hours this year.  This will fund the conferences, meals and lodging for me to complete my training hours.

We should be able to fully fund all of these items from our tax return.   This is a huge relief to us to know these expenses will not have to be worried about!   As you can see there is no Big Screen TV on our list, but instead many other things that give us a huge sense of relief knowing they are fully funded for the year.  The concept of saving for future expenses is called a “Sinking Fund”.  If you want more info you can read our blog post about “Sinking Funds” and how we organize our finances.

We are different people with different priorities….we live a simpler life striving towards our goal to be DEBT FREE, (and financially secure when we retire!)

Wishing you all a wonderful week!

Blessings…

 

Paul and Jen
Joyfully Living Below Our Means

Groceries: Cut the Dance and Start to Wiggle!

Grocery

If you are new to the budgeting/debt-reduction lifestyle, then step 1 is usually the maddening struggle to find your “Wiggle-room“. Wiggle-room is that extra corner you can cut somewhere (anywhere!) in your current spending to begin your snowball. It is vital to find your wiggle-room quickly, in order to sock away your emergency fund and then get that snowball rolling! Where is the best place to start? Well, for us it was: The Grocery Budget. You might be amazed at the amount of wiggle-room you can find by doing some smart shopping.

1. Plan your meals.  (emeals.com – a great site for menu planning inspiration)
2. Plan to do your own cooking.
3. Make and stick to your shopping list
4. Shop where the prices are lowest.

Note: To make our life easier in this area, we have completely eliminated the biggest headache of them all: The Coupon Dance. We Clip Zero Coupons. None. Nadda. Not a single one. Never, never, never ever. We’ve simply decided we will assign none of our precious evening or weekend free time to this.

So, First begin shopping where the prices are consistently lowest.

For us they are (and in this exact order)

1. Aldi, and if it’s not there,
2. Walmart, and if it’s not there,
3. Sam’s Club.

If you don’t want to take our word for this, then spend a bit of your free time doing a research project. (and this is actually kind of a fun and very eye-opening motivator for frugality!) Pick 20 common items you are likely to consistently buy that can be found at any grocery store. Price-check those 20 items at Aldi, Walmart, Cub, Rainbow, Festival, Kowalski’s, Byerly’s & Lunds. (Leave Sam’s Club out of this, unless you’re ready to play with a calculator for an extra hour. We go to Sam’s Club mainly because they have very good produce for the prices.) Trust me though, your end result will quickly reveal your wiggle-room. (Spoiler Alert: We’ll see you at Aldi )

Next: Figure out what might be an appropriate amount to budget for groceries for your family. (Pick a goal, any goal, then challenge yourself to beat it over time)  Recently I was reading a blog that recommended budgeting about $100 per person each month.  So for our family we should budget about $500 per month.

I decided that for the month of April I would track our grocery expenses to see how close we are to this amount. We shop only twice a month for grocery related items.  One of the shopping trips is usually larger due to when items run out, etc. 

4/6/13

Aldi – $67.67
WalMart – $ 40.76
Sam’s Club – $52.72

Two weeks’ total On Food – $161.15 

4/21/13

Aldi – $ 142.41
WalMart – 102.15
Sam’s Club – $ 57.64

Two weeks’ total on Food = $302.20

Total for month of April – $463.35

Based on our totals for April, I find the $100 per month per person to be a fairly generous amount to budget for groceries. This month our totals were a bit higher as Jen is going out of town for 5 days next week, so we bought more convenient things for meals prep while she is gone. 

So if you are new to budgeting, and need to find that wiggle-room to create your emergency fund and then start your snowball, I would start with making your monthly grocery budget be $100 per person in the family and start shopping where the same foods are cheaper in price. I think it is a very easy place to start.  As you get better at cooking and frugal shopping, that amount will probably decrease, but this is a very good starting place. 

Happy Budgeting!!

Paul and Jen
Joyfully Living Below Our Means!

Getting on track in the new year…..

It is hard to believe that 2010 is nearly over.   I think the years go by faster and faster as I get older.   Which comes to my next thought…..as we leave 2010 behind, I will also be leaving my 30’s behind.  I am not sure how I feel about turning 40.  Somedays….it really doesn’t seem possible that I could be that old.  I certainly don’t feel 40, but then again what does 40 feel like?  

financial-peace-class

As many of you may have heard about, hubby and I started and completed Financial Peace University at our church.  We sort of took the class on a whim, but found it to be very needed.  It is wonderful to be on the same page financially with my hubby.  We are working hard to make progress, though we did slack off a bit in December with the holidays.  Now it is time to get intense again!  I am excited to see the progress me make in 2011.   If you have not heard of this class…..check out Dave Ramsey’s website or radio show.  I am sure my family is tired of hearing on Dave Ramsey!   Either way we have once again celebrated Christmas without putting anything on a credit card.  With that said, we have not used a Credit Card in over 6 months.  

But I will say we were over budget with Christmas so it is a little tight still so shopping today was interesting.  I had to add some of my fun money to the mix to complete our errands.   But we do have groceries for the next two weeks.   So that is good!

Errands….12/30/10

grocery Groceries

Aldi – 130.02

Sam’s – 38.64

Walmart – 15.00

Total – 183.66 (16 days of menu)  – $11.47/day or $80.35 per week.  

Household Items/ Clothes (2 pants Tommy)

Walmart – $40.75

Luckily, I was already use to meal planning as we have been able to keep our food budget under $100 a week.  This is very good skill to have.  We are excited for the journey we are on financially so I am sure you will be hearing more about it. 

Happy Savings!!