APRIL 22-28 2024
It's the last full week of April so let's focus on closing out the month and preparing for next month!
A little focus on Budget and Groceries.
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Grocery stock/restock
In preparation for the upcoming weekend suggested tasks, take some time and do a quick clean out of your fridge of leftovers. If there are items that need to be used up; move those to the front and make a plan to use them. BEWARE: My family has had to endure a few too many meals of horribleness created by using up some of these items. Please don't do that to your family if you don't have to. Our food ads here come out on Wednesdays so doing a fridge/pantry check on Monday helps us be able to see what we may need/want from the ads.
Monday, April 22, 2024
Wrap up 2023 Taxes & Prepare for 2024
By now most of us have filed our taxes so now is the time to ensure you address your paperwork, electronic or physical copies. It's also a good time to start preparing for next year.
Close Out 2023
Is your 2023 return store in a secure location? There are definitely differnet schools of thought on if that's just electroncically or printed as well etc. I'm here to just say do what you feel is best; just remember it is 7 years that is required to be kept. So is now the time to shred or clean out prior to the 7-years. I'll be honest...I can't convince myself to get rid of all of them yet, but the oldies are just electronic and not costing me anything to keep. When I went through this task, I realized I had never downloaded my officially filed report from my tax advisor.
Are your supporting documents also saved as needed? If these are electronically stored, take the time now to rename them so they make sense. I like to start the file name with the form name/number. For instance 1099-Int and then the business name and the year. As a note, I perform these steps as I received documents throughout the year or as they start showing up for the tax season. By keeping these file naming conventions consistent, they all fall in order when sorted by name.
Prepare for next tax year
At this time, I create a folder called Tax Year 2024. In this folder, I make a copy of my 2023 tax year checklist and save it into this folder.
Looking at the checklist, I can look and see if anything I need to add or remove. I personally had a lot of items already change in Quarter 1 of 2024 so I can make note of this so I don't have to remember months from now. Perhaps there are events that have or will take place that you're unsure of the tax implications; take the time to note those now so you remember to ask or research.
Based on your payment or return is there anything you want to change? Do your W-4 deductions need to be adjusted?
Do you have a Sinking fund started to pay for your next years filing fee(s)? If you anticipate having to pay taxes, are your started a fund for that?
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4.pdf
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
Make your money work for you. Every little bit counts.
There are so many options these days for higher interest earning opportunties. Do some research and see what works for you. I am not in financial situation where I feel comfortable with putting funds where I can't get to them fairly quickly. However, I've found a couple of higher interest online savings accounts that I like. Money is accessible within a few days and easily link to my "day to day" checking accounts.
Look for FDIC insured and understand the risks (https://www.fdic.gov/resources/deposit-insurance/)
Some sources to look for different options:
NerdWallet https://www.nerdwallet.com/best/banking/high-yield-online-savings-accounts
Bankrate https://www.bankrate.com/banking/savings/best-high-yield-interests-savings-accounts/
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Quarterly budget look back to Q1
By the last week of April, most credit cards and other accounts will have had eveything through March cleared and reconciled (if you do that type of thing. LOL) Look at your transactions for items that need to be updated for the remainder of the year.
We had items change in our fur babies lives so adjustments were made
I transitioned career paths so my salary changed for money in
Our insurance rates changed fairly significantly so we adjusted the money set aside monthly to account for the increase.
2025- I get that 2025 seems, well like a year away, but it sneaks up on us so I look back on Quarter 1 items and see what I need to ensure we're accounting for in Q1 of 2025. Some items to to consider...
Our Miss Taffy has her annual vet exam in January, she also has shots due at this time. We can estimate the costs based on what we spent in January 2024
Reviewing our electric bills for Jan, Feb, March we can estimate what we'll spend in 2025
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Sinking Funds review or Start up
If you read back through my posts this week, you'll read about Sinking Funds. When I first started being more active in our budget for life, I had no idea what a sinking fund was. "A sinking fund is a strategic way to save money by setting aside a little bit of money each month."
There are so many different ideas online for how and what to save for. I created a system that works for my family. Don't get caught up too much in the "rules"; just start.
I have an array of accounts for quick access for paying our bi-weekly bills. For "longer" term (this can be as short as my every 4-8 week massage or hair appointments), I like to collect any interest I can, so I keep the money in highter interest online savings accounts until the money is needed. For online savings accounts, I've found that I personally favor Ally. Why? For me it comes down to one very simple thing. Their graphics for the different buckets (a.k.a sinking funds) within the savings account.
Start a sinking fund.
Review your sinking funds.
Friday, April 26, 2024
Clean out your freezer, fridge and your pantry- make a meal plan
FRIDGE/FREEZER: I've posted about an app that I have found helpful for my family when it comes to keeping track of what we have on hand or what we need. At the end of the month, I update the app so that the upcoming month we can stock back up as needed for the bigger items. Yes folks, we have a sinking fund for Costco. I tried to avoid that for the longest time, but it was hurting our budget so we put plan in place for the "big hauls".
PANTRY/SPICES: Don't forget about the dry goods. We actually had ketchup expire because we forgot we had it. I could have given it away to friends long before that so shame on us. Such a waste. We are awful about making a list of the spices that are out or running low. We order most of our spices so this can be a problem. So don't forget to check those too.
MEAL PLAN: Some people are good at meal planning, I am not. However, what I like to do is look at our food and jot down some ideas based on what we have or plan to buy. I also look at the weather. Ask my other half, my "favorite meal" changes based on weather outside. Don't feed me a bowl of tomato soup with grilled cheese if it's warm and sunny outside, or a salad on a rainy day. It's a whole different version of Hangry.
Saturday-Sunday April 27-28, 2024
