Note: This is a post from Joan Otto, Man Vs. Debt community manager. Read more about Joan.
Remember how I said last month that we needed to come up with $7,104 for the IRS before April 15?
And remember how I said I wasn’t going to take on new debt to do it – and, in fact, that I expected to make it AND have our credit-card balance total go down?
We’re on target to not only meet, but EXCEED that goal. I can’t even put into words how excited I am – and how this situation has really changed my view of our family’s financial picture.
[See exactly where we are...]
Note: This is a post from Joan Otto, Man Vs. Debt community manager. Read more about Joan.
As part of our quest to come up with $7,100 for the IRS before April 15, my husband and I decided to cash out a 529 account we’d set up for our daughter’s education expenses. We pulled $2,500 out of that last week.
If you’re not familiar, 529 plans are kind of like 401(k) plans for education expenses. So, much like if we’d cashed out a 401(k) account, this $2,500 will be subject to taxes now that we withdrew the money.
I’ve mentioned before that 401(k)s, 529s and other plans with numbers instead of names aren’t my family’s preference for savings or investments. But why would I take a tax hit to help pay for the taxes?
Well, I’m actually not opposed to investing. I’m certainly not opposed to saving for future expenses. But there are four main reasons why managed savings vehicles like these aren’t right for us, and each of those raises a question I want to challenge you to answer about your own savings plan.
[Ready to challenge your thinking?]
Note: This is a post from Courtney Baker, chief seller and long-time running wo-man of MvD.
For the longest time, I misunderstood the world of second-hand shops. I assumed that all shops gathered their inventory by buying goods from people directly, or from donations. I was completely oblivious to consignments.
I also was completely unaware that online marketplaces like craigslist, Amazon, and eBay are also considered second-hand shops.
It turns out there are four types of second-hand shops – consignment, pawn, classified and thrift.
[So what are the differences - and which should you use?]
Note: This is a post from Courtney Baker, chief seller and long-time running wo-man of MvD.
It’s been ages since we hosted our last book giveaway and even longer since we’ve had a video! We’ve been adding to the MvD library over the past year, and it’s time to ship these good reads out to the community.
I’ve always struggled with reading financial books. I connect so much better with stories, which is why this book is refreshing. Chuck Rylant is a certified financial planner who has written a fictional story that peeks into the life of newlyweds Janet and Richard.
It starts with the ebb and flow of Janet and Richard getting to know each other, financially. A couple of pitfalls, an unplanned baby, and several avoided conversations later, Janet and Richard are suffocating under their debt.
Janet primarily tracks their finances. Her husband has a vague sense of where they stand, but couldn’t really toss out any numbers. And honestly, neither could Janet. She’s crumbling under the pressure that finances are her responsibility. It’s time to sit down and look at the damage, but both of them are avoiding it.
This story does have a happy ending – woohoo! – but Janet and Richard had to learn one really important skill…
[Check out my video review of this fun book!]
Note: This is a post from Joan Otto, Man Vs. Debt community manager. Read more about Joan.
I’m writing this post at 11:30 p.m. on Sunday night, and Chris and I have just gotten back from a 2.5-hour trip to the grocery store. Everything’s put away, and we’re off the hook – for another two weeks, when we’ll do it all again.
Grocery shopping is a production for us. It’s a well-oiled production, though, and it’s evolved over the past 3 or 4 years into a system that keeps us fed, keeps us on budget, and takes as little of our time as we can reasonably expect.
We have two refrigerators, four basically-adult people in our house, five cats, a dog and a hamster. We want to shop as infrequently as possible. We have some food allergies. We rarely eat out at this point, so our “grocery” spending is easily 90% of our total food cost. There are certain brands we prefer to support, and certain products for which store brands are great.
The point of our shopping isn’t “just be cheap.” It’s a combination of all these factors, and today, I want to show you how it works. I’m not promising this is a great system for everyone – or anyone but us, actually. But I hope it’s “food” for thought!
[Here's how we do it...]
Note: This is a post from Joan Otto, Man Vs. Debt community manager. Read more about Joan.
You know that we’re big fans at Man Vs. Debt of getting rid of the junk in your life. We talk about selling your crap and paying off your debt – two huge things that work together to get your finances and your physical space in order.
Lately, though, I’ve been talking to a lot of people whose physical stuff isn’t too much of a problem any more. Their money is starting to work FOR them instead of against them. But they’re daunted by something that is becoming a huge problem: Digital clutter.
What does digital clutter “look” like? It’s not invisible, contrary to popular belief.
[Find out the scary forms this clutter takes...]
Note: This is a post from Courtney Baker, chief seller and long-time running wo-man of MvD.
I had heard about cloth diapers in a “back in the old days” kind of way.
I didn’t really understand how cloth diapers worked; and when I had Milli, cloth diapers weren’t even a thought.
It wasn’t until I was pregnant with Charlotte, my second daughter, that I realized cloth diapering was making a come back.
All of a sudden, I kept encountering people talking about cloth diapers, and it felt like too much of a hint not to look into it…
[See why we decided to take the leap...]
