Budgeting 101

Many of my followers have requested my assistance in developing a budget crash course and what better time than in the beginning of the year. A while back I did a "Money Challenge" blog to encourage people to save money (a passion of mine). This blog I will layout a simple budgeting template that will guide anyone in planning a secure financial future. 

Let the budget planning begin.........................................................................

Plan 1: List Income and Expenses

Go through all of your income sources and bills and list each and every item receive/pay  (including quarterly, semiannually, and annual items). Notate the due date of each bill. 

For other than monthly bills, convert total due into a monthly figure (for example: if your insurance bill is due every 6 months. Take the total bill amount and divide by 6, place this figure in the amount column. This method allows you to include this bill within your monthly budget even though a payment is not made each month. Once you have listed all your bills compare the total to your monthly income. {INCOME - EXPENSES = Net Income/(Loss)}

Plan 2: Set financial goals

Why wait til your retired or worse become ill to state you wished you had traveled or tried new things or better yet enjoyed your life. 

Plan to do them now, while you still can!!! 

List your goals for life whether it be travelling, going back to school, trying out different restaurants or just pampering yourself every month. Shop around to find the best price that can fit within your budget and add them to it by specifically stating goal as a line item. 

Plan 3: Start saving

Saving should be looked at as a bill, money to pay for something that you need or want. For instance, you pay your phone bill each month. Look at saving just like that, a monthly bill. Once paid it's gone. That is until you need it. 

Let's say you decide you want to by a new computer, you've created you "New Computer" bill line item and you've been applying $100/month towards this goal. After 10 months, you've saved $1,000, you can now purchase a laptop without having to scramble funds from every and anywhere. 

Budgeting B*B*J*B

Are you ready?

One thing I love to do is help people gain financial success. The holidays are here and people are shopping away, believe me I know!!! (I don't even celebrate Christmas but I am surely enjoying the shopping experience). But a lot people always say "Berenice, why didn't you tell me about this or that before?!?". So as this upcoming tax season draws closer, I am going to provide you some tools to help you get the refund you deserve.

First step is to be sure you have kept all of your receipts and records for anything you will be claiming an exemption or deduction for. I usually provide this checklist to my clients:

-W2(s)
-1009-Misc (other income)
-1099-INT (Bank Interest Stmt)
-1098-E (student interest stmt)
-1098-T (tuition stmt)
-Tithe/Offering receipt
-Volunteer expenses log (churches & nonprofit organizations)
-Unreimbursed job expenses (uniforms, etc.)
-Professional Dues and Subscriptions
-Major purchases receipts (car, equipment, home upgrades, etc.)
-Moving expenses receipts

Second step is to research what deductions you may qualify for. For example: most people that I know are involved with a non profit organization in some way shape or form and don't know that their of your out of pocket expenses are deductible. Here are deductible expenses:

• the cost of hosting a party or fundraiser for the organization
• advertising that you buy on behalf of the organization
• supplies you purchase to be used in volunteer work, such as stamps and stationery
• the cost of a required uniform (and the cost of keeping it clean), and
• telephone expenses.

Third step find a qualified tax accountant to do your taxes. It seems cheaper to do them yourself,  I know all about cheap.  But you could be missing out on a higher refund because you don't know tax law and what you could be entitled to. Tax professionals are constantly on top of new tax laws and even after paying them you could still get a higher refund. 

Last step is to try and save your refund. One of my new goals is to encourage saving to everyone I come in contact with more info can be found on my Money Challenge blog . Don't depend on your tax refund to pay your monthly bills but watch your savings grow each year by putting your refund away. This can allow for that vacation you can never afford or that new car you've been dying to drive.

I hope this has helped you to get ready for tax season and should you have any questions please let me know. Stayed tuned this tax season for Ask the Auditor segment.

Ready B*B*J*B

Credit Check.............

Well here it is.......How to get your credit in check Part 1!!!!!!!

Many of you have asked how to start or repair your credit so that you can be financially stable. First step will be to double check your report and make sure what is showing on your report is a reflection of the actual decisions you have made. So don't be fooled by the "freecreditreport" commercials or ads. And go to the only website that gives you your report:

www.annualcreditreport.com

This site will access all three credit bureaus that you need to know about:

Experian--http://www.experian.com/

Equifax--http://www.equifax.com/

Transunion--http://www.transunion.com/

You are allowed to see your report once a year per bureau.  So I recommend that you request a report from one bureau every 4 months. This way you see what each bureau is reporting and what changes are being made throughout the year.

I know you may also want to know what your score is but I do not think that's important when your trying to repair your credit.  The score is a direct reflection of what your creditors are reporting to the credit bureaus. So once you fix any disputes the score will self adjust (with time of course).

So you go to the site, you choose the bureau you want to start with, you pull your report, print it.......now review it!!!! Look for errors, if you don't find any good for you!!!! If you find some it's time to get to work.....Are you ready? I hope so, breathe its not the end of the world but it might be the beginning of a battle.

You will need to begin the dispute process through the bureau that is reporting the error so look at the bottom of your report for their contact information.  Draft a letter, with your account information and anything the bureau may need to identify you correctly. In the body of the letter state what the error you noted is and provide any information you have to support your issue. If you need some guidance here is a sample letter.

Stay tuned for Part II as I help you get your credit in check!!!!!


B*B*J*B Credit Rep

Honda Addict

On 6/6/06 I purchased my first Honda Accord and cannot seem to stop buying them. To date I am on my 3rd Honda Accord in a little over 6 years. I know I am a Honda Addict!!! But I wanted to share with you some of the good and some not so good decisions I have made regarding my car purchases in an effort to save someone from making a costly decision they will regret. Everyone thinks I never have spent a bad penny but I have not always saved good ones either. Here's my little story: Just after graduation I bought a 2006 Accord (weird right on 6/6/06 promised not planned).



In any case loved every single thing about it and Angelika loved me to. We lived in all parts of Florida until 2009 just exactly 3 years old things took a twist. There is one thing I don't like and it is repairing a car, which now I realize isn't the worst thing in the world. But you live and hopefully learn. So what do I do when my car starts costing money for repairs along with a car payment??? I follow the dealers false advertisements and go get a new car. Yeah I thought I was cool. Why pay out more money into an old car when you can put it in a new one. Right? So off my happy go lucky self goes and gets a 2010 Accord with even more features than before. The only problem was that I ate all of my equity which was about $4000 into a LEASED car. If you are reading this and and your not wealthy DO NOT LEASE A CAR!!! EVER! Sorry I had to get that out. Basically, you are wasting last every cent. So many people advised me not to do it and thinking I was grown and knew what I was doing I signed away every penny I had out into a car. Not to mention within months I transfered to a job that included 75% travel. So here I am with a beautiful car, new car payment, three more years of payments, no more equity, and the gaurantee that when my lease expires I would be without a car and still owe the financing company money for exceeding my mileage limits!!!! If I had kept my tail quiet I would have only had 2 more years of car payments, and then no payments at all, a car worth something, and the guarantee of actually owning a car.

We reach 2012 ready for lease to expire and I am back at drawing board. But since I serve an amazing God I was blessed to save enough money over the years to purchase a 2012 Honda Accord as beautiful as the rest at 0% interest with a 10 year warranty with no major affect on my monthly budget. This time here are no mileage restrictions and hopefully low maintanence. It's sad to be starting over but then I would not have been able to share this story with you.

Thanks for reading and I hope this helps someone make a good decision when deciding to get a car. Forever B * B * J * B

T-shirt Quilt

Every time you sign up for something, win something, or just are apart of something you always get a free t-shirt. Then one day you go in your drawer and it is over flowing with t-shirts. Well I had enough but just couldn't seem to part ways with some of them. Like my high school project graduation tshirt or my very first pathfinder shirt, not to even mention my first andrews tshirt (there were plenty to follow). But still each has its own meaning especially the custom ones with my name on it (my BBJB collection lol) or the family reunion shirts that are just to special to just throw away. So a coworker told me about making a quilt out of it. A quilt, I mean I can sew, I have a machine but how in the world do I do that?!?!?

For every question, there is Pinterest!!!! And there it was, the beginning of my addiction.  Because I'm so unique I do things a little different,  but the end result is still the same. 

This is the instructions I followed:

http://cheapchichome.blogspot.com/2011/08/t-shirt-quilt-completed.html?showComment=1313514326206#c4821292592555110808

And here is my finished product...........

See if you have one of them in your T-shirt stack. 

B*B*J*B Forever

So you say you wanna COUPON...

Many of you have asked me to help you do some couponing   or at least to show you my system. Before we get there here is a look at my savings for 2012 $2,592.76!!!! An average of about $200 a month. 

I am sure you would like for this to be you!!! So let's take a look at how..........

First you need to purchase a 3-prong folder (back to school time you can get it for $0.10) 

Next, you need to purchase what I call Baseball Card holders from Dollar Tree.

Place in folder, like this....

If you haven't gotten already you need to get coupons, otherwise whats the point?!?!?! This can be done by subscribing to your local newspaper or going to convenience store weekly to buy it on Sundays. In addition, you can print coupons at www.coupons.com 

Some people cut and collect all the coupons. I recommend you only Cut The Coupons You WIll USE!!

For a beginner, you will only enjoy doing this if you see yourself saving money on items you are already going to purchase. Once you get the hang of it then you can upgrade. So after you cut your coupons place in baseball card holders by category (for example: grocery, toiletries, household products, and dept stores). This makes it easy when walking through the store if your coupons are organized based on the same set-up.  

Now you are ready to go shopping!!!!!! Review your store ads for sales and specials. Make sure to review your receipt to see your SAVINGS!!!!!

It's amazing that you can save more than you spent on one little trip to the grocery. I keep track of total savings from each receipt for the month, you can do the same. Happy Couponing!!!!!

B*B*J*B 4 Life

Save the groceries

As we begin to start 2013 saving money, I also want to be sure my followers are not wasting their money either. If you have not yet set up a Pinterest account, don't you worry. I will provide you reviews of suggestions from the best of Pinterest. This begins with things that relate to your everyday purchases.

The link below goes over 27 ways to make your groceries last as long as possible. I will list the ones I have tried and suggest you try too and help you to not waste your money.

1) Onions stored in pantyhose will last as long as 8 months. IT Works!!!
2) Freeze green onions in a plastic bottle. IT Works!!!

9) Don't store onions with potatoes. IT Works!!!
10) Store potatoes with apples to keep them from sprouting. IT Works!!!
11) One rotten apple can spoil the bunch. IT Works!!!

17) Wrap crown of a bunch of bananas with plastic wrap. IT Works!!!

20) Mason jars are your friend, instead of plastic tupperware. IT Works!!!
21) Clean your fridge. IT will ALWAYS Work!!!
22) How to store tomatoes. IT Works!!!

27) Follow the handy guide on what to store on the counter and what to put away in the fridge. IT WORKS!!!

I know it will work for you too!!! Give it a try and let me know how it goes.

**Note info provided by Peggy Wang @
http://www.buzzfeed.com/peggy/27-ways-to-make-your-groceries-last-as-long-as-pos

http://pinterest.com/pin/300333868870229012/

Good luck

B*B*J*B

2013 Money Challenge

In an effort to encourage my family to save money, we are working on a Money Challenge. Which includes putting aside money each week for the entire year. Now I know 2013 has already gotten started but the first few months are the easy ones, so it's not too late to get caught up if this is something you would like to do.

Here's how its done. Each week deposit the amount of the number week of year you are on into an account that you will not touch for that year. If you follow the steps, you can save $1,378.00 in just one year.

 

See how easy it is? Let the savings begin.

Note: I get paid monthly so to make it easier on me I just transfer my savings for the month at the beginning of each month. For those that get paid biweekly you can do the same and watch your money grow.

SAVE AWAY

B*B*J*B Forever