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Why would you want to file early? The government does pay a little bit of interest on what they owe you if you file late. But the interest rates are very low. You are better off taking this money and putting it into a bond, as the two pay about the same (maybe less from the government). And you can always cash the bond if you need the money right away. It can take the government weeks to refund your tax money.

If you are late and owe money, however, it is even worse! Filing late means that you pay penalties. Yes, the interest rate charged on late taxes is minimal. However, you should at least double that if you are filing late, as there are late filing penalties! Even if you can’t pay right away, it is best to file as soon as the deadline, because then you avoid the extra costs of paying late filing fees. Isn’t it better to keep that money for yourself? It’s certainly better than throwing it away and giving it to the government.

Another point is that you may not realize that you have money coming to you, or how much. At least filing on time you will be aware of where you stand – exactly – with how much you owe or how much is owed to you. It makes economic sense, and can help you to better budget now and in the future. Yes, the deadline for this year is passed, so if you missed it file now and avoid further penalties. And don’t be late next year!

(Note: if you live in the Edmonton, Alberta area I do personal and corporate taxes, so feel free to contact me about your tax returns.)

1. Colour. Get out the paper and crayons and try to come up with some creative things. We recently traced all of our hands and made pictures form those. I kept one that has all of our hands traced on one sheet and dated it. The picture is a real keeper, as it shows the kids’ hand sizes right along with mine.
2. Go to the Library. There are often activities for kids at the library, especially on Saturday or Sunday mornings (at least in my city). Check it out! And the kids loved picking out books for me to read to them.
3. Play Board Games. Even with my kids, who are really young (2 and 4) this is a blast! We play snakes and ladders as well as some other kids games that were given to us that the kids enjoy, and I have fun with them.
4. Bake. We bake something at least every other week. I bake all my own bread at home, so this is a big money saver! The cost of a loaf of bread, baked at home, is about 25 cents for the ingredients. And it costs me about $3 for the same loaf of bread in the store. And the kids love mixing the dough and pouring the ingredients. And when it’s warm out of the oven, then we all get a slice smothered in margarine. Mmmmm! We also bake banana bread, cake, and sometimes cookies.
5. Take some digital pictures. Even my kids get a turn with the camera! They love it and we get to look at the pictures on the computer afterwards and laugh, especially at the ones my son takes of his face really close up!
6. Go to the playground. I know it may sound basic and silly, but it really is a lot of fun! I play “catch me” with the kids, where they get to run around and I have to pretend to try and catch them. We sometimes get other kids in the playground who want to play, too. And I find I’m the only adult in the playground (most times) who is actually playing with his kids. It also gives me a great workout! you’d be surprised at how much energy it takes to keep up to a four year old kid. Go down the slide, swing on the swings, help your kids to climb, even play in the sand. It’s great for your spirit, too!
7. Learn something new. You went to the library already, so learn about the things in those books you grabbed. Or find something on the Internet that is fun for everyone to learn about. It’s great to teach your kids and get them discussing things that they are interested in. I had my son teach my all about Bakugan toys and how they work, for example. And my daughter introduced me to all the Little Ponies that her grandma bought her and I had to learn all their names. It was surprisingly fun! And my kids got very engaged with me. And then I read them a kids’ story about a Viking boy and they learned some history and talked about all the neat things that were in the story, like the ship and the swords and the funny clothes they wore…
8. Make some origami. All you need is some paper. Do a search on the Internet and you will find many sites instructing on this. Or maybe you got a book from the library already?
9. Play catch. Kids love to play catch or soccer and just move the ball around in interaction with each other and their parents. And everybody gets a little exercise as a bonus!
10. Go for a bike ride. Explore your neighbourhood! Just be safe and follow local traffic and helmet laws.
11. Build a blanket tent city. Take some blankets and build tents or forts out of them and have a maze and fun place to play. The kids love this, and we sometimes play tag through the tents all over the living room, as it’s easy for the kids to hide from me and more fun to chase from place to place. They can also pretend their adventurers on a camp out and exploring the world.
12. Do some gardening. Really! The kids love planting and taking care of the garden and have learned to see the results of their work. They are happy to pull the weeds with me, as they enjoy playing in the dirt and understand that it helps to make their plants grow better. They’re really looking forward to strawberries and peas this year!
13. Make some cards. Have a birthday or other special event coming up? It’s great to make some cards and cost practically nothing, just the cost of paper/card stock. Have the kids draw special pictures and decorate the cards in a special way for the occasion. We tend to have a stock of craft supplies from the dollar store, so making a card probably costs less than 10 cents. That’s close enough to free!
14. Do some puzzles. Yes, jigsaw puzzles! The kids love putting these together and enjoy my input, even if they can do it themselves.
15. Go swimming. Most cities have free swim parks or there is a lake nearby that you can enjoy. All it costs is the gas to get there. Or if you’re lucky you live close enough to bike or walk, then it really is free! Our neighbourhood has a free water park that the kids love to play in. While it’s not really swimming, it’s close. And that makes me think of the next one…
16. Have a water fight! The kids love getting me all wet and spraying me with water. A couple of weeks ago I bought three little squirt guns for $1, which added to the fun. so we each have a squirt gun and love the added dimension. Of course the kids love it if they get control of the hose or sprinkler… and another water related one…
17. Blow bubbles. Mix one part liquid dish detergent with 15 parts water – one quick way to do this is to just mix 1/4 cup detergent with 3-3/4 cups of water. Use filtered and fairly soft water if you can. Then, take a wire coat hanger, bend and twist it into a small loop or two, and you’re ready to go. Any round object will work – I’ve used plastic lids from coffee whitener and just cut the centre out. Be inventive! Blowing bubbles works really great if you have small children who love to chase them or are just learning to blow them. With the bigger things, like the lids you have to wave it in the air to make the bubbles. Don’t wave too hard.
18. Play some music. I have tin whistles and a guitar, but you can learn pretty much any instrument that interests you. When we visit Grandma we play on the piano, even though none of us really know how. It’s just for fun and the kids really enjoy it. And we actually learn a little about music. And the more I do it, the better my skills get!
19. Explore the outdoors. My city has a great river valley to walk in, but there are also nearby parks and reserves that we can go visit. Travelling to those costs the gas money, so we usually stay close. The kids get to show me their discoveries, such as the butterfly my son saw coming out of it’s cocoon, spiders building webs or eating a bug, something floating along in the river, squirrels, and a huge variety of plants.
20. Build a Castle or Fort. In the winter time we build snow forts out in our yard, which the kids love. Another idea for when there is no snow is to go by the local appliance or hardware store and ask if they have any huge boxes they are getting rid of. They will usually let you just take it (sometimes 2 or three), and you can then build a castle from it in your yard or living room. Cut out the windows, make a door, the limit is your imagination (and how much cardboard you have).

I could add more, but think I’ll save that for another day and another list. If anyone reading this has things to add, please comment and let me know!

I’ve also now added my simple budget spreadsheet to use in your personal budget. This is another one that is free to download (although I do appreciate any donations that people are able to give through my website).

Others things that are forthcoming are a more advanced personal budget spreadsheet and my personal budgeting course. Watch for these!

If you have any requests, please let me know! I enjoy making spreadsheets that work well for people. It is my goal to help as many people as possible

I will be rebuilding this site and my other sites (Papa and Kids, Evolved Human, Mythic Hero, and a couple of others) that were hacked. And I’ve already redone my main site (Haidner Art Studio & Armoury), because it’s how I make my living. The other sites are my hobbies and ways that I enjoy helping people, including this one.

So please be patient while I get Personal Budget Help back up and have my free spreadsheets and numerous articles reloaded! Yes, I kept them all individually backed up, but it does take a while to do these each one at a time.

-Johanus

Coupons are often touted as great money savers and the greatest way to save on groceries, household supplies, even clothing and home construction. Need some eyeglasses? There is certain to be a coupon for it. Whatever your needs, you can find a coupon for some supplier.

The way that coupons are touted by some finance and budget advisors, you would spend half of your Saturday scouring the internet and newspapers looking for the best deals and clipping coupons. This is a waste of your time! How much will you really save if you clip all of the coupons that you find for items you like or need?

Firstly, look at what the deals are that each coupon shows. Now ask yourself if you really need the items on the coupon. If the answer is “no” then you aren’t saving anything, since you are either wasting money on something you don’t need (so you are throwing money away), or you have just wasted your time with the coupon. Don’t clip it or give it a second glance. Coupons are really just advertisements that are used in order to get new sales or promote customer returns and loyalty. And they are effective advertising!

The key with coupons is to know ahead of time what you need and stick with that, only. Most people will use coupons for groceries, as these are the most common coupons that we see. And they are the easiest to find. They lure you from grocery store or brand to another. And sometimes they include special offers that entice a person to buy more than what would normally be needed or used. For example, the grocery store that I shop at often has a special marked down price on items if they are bought in certain quantities, such as $1.00 each if bought in groups of 3; $1.28 for a single item. If you don’t need 3 of the items, why would you buy 3? You’ve just spent $1.72 on something that you didn’t need, and are likely to throw at least one of those three away. This means that you would have spent $1.50 each for the two that you did use. So where are the savings? Of course if you were going to buy the 3 items in the first place, then you will save.

This same grocery store has a large bulletin board posted directly inside the entrance of the building filled with coupons that you can tear off and use for the trip you are going on that day. This is very clever of them, as all of these items are then advertised and the coupons often entice people to buy items that they wouldn’t otherwise. But you won’t fall for that, will you?

The point is to not use coupons except for items that you would already buy!

In order to do that you have to have certain strategies whenever you go shopping or even looking for coupons. The first thing is to make a list of what you need. Complete the list before you look for coupons. Then when you look for coupons seek only those items that are on your list! It doesn’t matter if you see a great deal on something that isn’t on your list that you might like. It isn’t on the list, so you don’t need it. Don’t buy it! Don’t even think about buying it.

Advertisers love coupons and special offers, because these things really do get people to buy things that they don’t need. Take a look around your house and the homes of your friends. Guaranteed that you will see many things there that are never used – probably aren’t even thought of – and serve no purpose. But they looked cool at the time, maybe they were a fad, the advertising for them was good, and they weren’t expensive. And that’s why they were bought. And how much money over the months and years is wasted on buying things that aren’t needed? Do you really want to keep following that pattern?

Coupons and special offers are useful. They allow you to try new brands that you wouldn’t normally buy. [We all already know about brand names being overpriced.] This really won’t make a difference to your pallet, but it can make a difference to your budget, if the special offer or coupon makes the brand name cheaper than what you normally buy. And that is always a good thing!

Remember, there are three steps that must be followed:

1. Make a list
2. Find any coupons that are on that list only.
3. Cut your cost by using the coupons on items you would already buy.

The setting of a budget is really about choosing what jobs you want your money to do for you. Whether it is paying your monthly obligations or saving for a vacation, each thing that you assign your money to do is a job for it. As the boss, you have to decide which priority is most important for your money to do. Assuming that you are in a situation where you have enough to meet your monthly basic needs; then you have to choose what job or jobs the rest of the money has to do.

Firstly, of course, there are basic needs: food, clothing and shelter. While there are ways to lower these expenses and limit the jobs that your money has to do there, that is talked about elsewhere. Once these basic needs are met, then the remaining money needs something to do. For if you don’t assign a job to your money, you will spend it on frivolous things, sometimes that you will regret, when you could benefit better by having a pre-set assignment for your hard-earned cash. So where should the remaining amounts be assigned?

Debt Reduction

This is usually the first priority that people choose for their cash. The reasons are varied, but usually boil down to having more money in the long term. This is because of lowered interest rates when credit ratings are really good, not paying interest on debts, and feeling more in control of their money. This is one of the two items that I would recommend as number one.

Entertainment Spending

While this is usually way down the list of priorities for most people, I am going to say that it should be number two, if not number one. But there’s a caveat on this! You have to have all of your minimum payments on your debts covered first. And there’s another caveat: that the amount be limited to no more than a set percentage or a particular small amount of your free cash. Using 10% as an example is pretty good. So is using $20 per month (which is quite small, I know). This gives you something that you will always have and always look forward to. And if you end up with more free cash, you can always increase it. I spirits truly need care. We need to feel that there is something more in life than work and staying at home. Having a little bit of money for entertainment isn’t just nice – it’s necessary! Always budget something for this! I recommend this to be the number one on the assignment list for the free cash, after necessary expenses. But be clever about it, too!

You can be clever with your entertainment expense in the following way, as long as you have god self control. Take your entertainment money and put it onto paying down a credit card. You now have that $20 or $30 to use from the credit card for entertainment, if you so choose. It will save you some interest for the days that it has lowered the outstanding credit amount. And if you don’t spend it all, then the remaining amount is doing additional duty in debt reduction, getting you more quickly towards being debt free. Never overspend on this! I cannot emphasize how important that is.

Assign Your Money a Savings Pool

This means that you take the free cash after budgeting for other items and put it into an account that is a savings pool for emergencies, at least to start with. Once the emergency cash pool has reached at least three month’s (better if it were six month’s) basic expenses, then you can start a new pool for saving towards things that you really want to get, such as a vacation or new car or a fancy shirt… Whatever it is you want!

Assigning Your Money to Gifts

This means that you can assign the free money to buy gifts for birthdays, holidays, and just for fun! While it’s good to have a minimum amount budgeted for gifts year round, especially during the holiday season, having an extra budget or savings pool for gifts allows you to buy something a little more expensive for that one time you really want to get just a little more for that someone special.

Assigning Money to Other Jobs

There are many other things that money can be assigned to, once the basic expenses are met. While I strongly advocate for entertainment and debt reduction, as mentioned earlier, to be the number one and number two priorities, and an emergency fund for number three, anything after that is fun to think about. Here are a few ideas:

• Charity – pick your favourite cause and allocate a little to it once or twice a year. Or start a monthly or weekly donation pot. For example, it is common in Jewish households to have a charity box over the mantle that everybody in the household contributes a little to each week. And at the end of the month, or when the box becomes full, the money in the box is donated to the family’s chosen charity.
• Allowances – if you have children, then you may wish to allocate some of the extra to allowances for the kids. Make sure to use that opportunity to teach them about budgeting and how to handle their money responsibly.
• Clubs or courses – It’s always good to have fun and learn something, too! Take the extra money and use it to take a class in something you’ve always thought might be fun, but never really made the time to do. Take up painting, pottery, dancing, join a sports team, check out the local animè club, join a choir… The choices are endless.
• Take up a new hobby – Always wanted to do some woodworking? This is your chance! With the little bit of money that you have left over you can start to afford to take up whatever hobby it is that you wanted, whether it’s growing exotic plants, macramé, carving, or stamp collecting. Again, it always depends on you.
• Invest – for some people this is the simplest and best solution. Investing gives your money the important job of providing for you later in life, when you no longer are able to work, or simply have the desire to retire.

Whatever you do, always make sure that your “extra” money is assigned ahead of time. This helps ensure that you maintain control over it, and that you will receive maximum pleasure from it!

I’ve recently been looking at coupon sites, and one that really caught my attention is FindSavings.com. In reviewing this site, I found that the site is very comprehensive and has a huge array of coupons to offer in pretty much anything I could think of. I liked that it has a category menu that is easy to follow and includes feature offers directly on its home page. I also like the menu that allows one to look for coupons by type.

In searching through the site, I found that there are some great stores, including some of my favourites, such as The Children’s Place, Home Depot, Office Depot (hey, I work a lot from home), and more. There’s a discount on a tunnel play set that I bought for my kids from Back to Basics Toys. My kids like the tunnels and tents so much that I actually keep one of the tents set up all the time for them to play in. I even found one for Mikasa, which will help in finishing out my holiday china set!

Coupons really a great way to help stay within your budget. And online shopping can help to save you stress (not to mention time and travel expenses), by making it easier to see what you want. The majority of the coupons offered at FindSavings are for online shopping, I discovered. The only disappointment I had with it was when I saw the Safeway link and found that the coupons there were for online shopping only. I sometimes pick things up at Safeway when I am near there. It saves me time to buy things at a store I’m close by already, and having a coupon to use in the store would make it even better!

One store I just have to mention is Swiss Army Knife – I just love their stuff. But I’m a bit of a knife nut and outdoors enthusiast, so I’m biased in that way. With the coupons offered I could spend my entire entertainment/toys budget just on that store alone, and not feel too guilty.

With categories of coupons for just about anything you can imagine, a site like FindSavings can really help. Whether it’s books, electronics, food, clothing, pets, travel, toys or hobbies – or more – coupons can really help with keeping your budget by lowering your costs. Why pay full retail when you don’t have to?

(This is one of my more tongue-in-cheek articles)

Everyone always wants to find ways to save money. Why? There are so many ways that it is easier to just throw money away, without even really thinking about it. Here are a few of those.

1. Never wash a full load of laundry. In fact wash only one or two pieces of clothing in a machine load. It is so much better that way, as not only do you waste power, water, and detergent, you can get the extra work in that it takes to wash clothes in several loads. Use lots of soap, so that you have to run them through the rinse cycle twice to get it all out. At least your clothes will be clean!
2. Wash your dishes with the water running all the time. Make sure it’s as hot as you can possibly stand it, too. With both of those, then you can waste water and gas at the same time!
3. Always take baths. Baths use more water, so that way you can throw money down the drain. Of course, that isn’t the case if you decide to have a shower that is so long that you run out of hot water. That would be even better. And make sure to do it every day, twice a day, if you can.
4. Water you lawn every day for the greenest grass in the neighbourhood. Heck, make sure that the water runs all over the sidewalk and is on full blast! Also do it at the hottest time of day, that way the water evaporates quicker, making it less efficient. And do it for at least two or three hours, just so that the lawn gets a really good soaking!
5. Use every light you can in the house. Never open curtains, as that lets in natural light that is better for your eyes. Always use the old style light bulbs, too. These bulbs take more power and don’t last as long, so that makes them even better for the electric company.
6. Keep your thermostat as low as you can in summer, so the A/C runs full blast. In winter, keep it as high as you can tolerate, so the heat works overtime. This will make sure that you use the maximum energy you can. Don’t ever change this for vacations or when you’re at work, either.
7. Use your gas fireplace at every opportunity, even in summer. Hey, it looks cool and makes for great conversation! If it gets too warm, you can always open a window.
8. Always buy brand name! This work for everything, from groceries to clothing. Everybody knows that generic products are usually brand names repackaged or something manufactured exactly the same way with the same ingredients (for drugs and food), but just to be sure you’re getting your brand buy the ones with the right labels. At least you know what you’re getting, then.
9. Always buy new! This is especially true with technology. Having the latest technology trends shows how cool you really are. It doesn’t matter if the price will drop in three months to 50% of what you pay, and then all the quirks and bugs will be fixed. You gotta get it now!
10. Wait on auto maintenance as long as you can. If the manual says 3000 miles / 5000 km for the oil change, then wait twice that, that way you know you’re getting your money’s worth. Of course if the engine seizes, that might be cool, too. Who has seen that? At least you’ll have something new to talk about! Same goes with tires. Don’t check them, ever. Just wait for the inevitable blow out, so that you can have a little adventure on the freeway when it happens.

What other wasters are there? I’d love to hear them!

It sounds pretty simple. And sometimes it is. This principle can be followed in order to meet any goal in life. State the goal. Write it down! Read it and make sure it’s measurable, just like your budget is. A goal that isn’t measurable isn’t really a goal. There needs to be a timeline associated with it (just like a budget). Then write down what objectives are needed to accomplish that goal. If it’s financial, then it’s very easy to measure. But if it’s not, then measurement might be a little more difficult at first. This sometimes requires some real thinking about the goal and what it is that you really want. A fitness goal, for example, is often first stated as, “I want to lose weight and get into better shape.”

Look at that goal. Is it measureable? Of course not. How much weight? And when should the weight be gone by? And what kind of better shape – more muscles? Better cardio? Goals, whether personal, career, or financial, need to have clear outcomes and timelines. The weigh loss goal might be reworded into “lose 20 pounds within six months.”

This is why it’s also good to break them into objectives, just like a budget. What are the bigger level tasks that need to be accomplished in order to achieve the goal? In a budget these are usually things such as save X dollars a month, pay the rent, groceries, and other specific bills, and bring in the pay on time. For a personal goal, such as losing weight, it might be to join a gym or find an activity that allows you to get the required exercise to meet the goal. And it could include a specific amount of weight to lose each month.

Setting specific tasks to meet the actual objectives is also required. And everything must have a timeline! With a budget, these tasks are easy to know. To pay the rent, you must give the landlord a cheque for a certain amount by a certain date. That is pretty straightforward. And the same with savings goals. A certain amount of money must be put away each month, at a specific time, in an already specified investment. Hopefully your objective has already stated what kind of investment is needed to meet the larger goal.

With the losing weight example, the specific tasks can be quite focused, as well. These can be things such as go to the gym on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and run 1 mile. And each month the objective can be changed to increase the amount of exercise required.

So, with any goal one can see that there are three elements:

1. The clearly stated goal that is measurable and includes a timeline
2. The objectives that are required to meet the goal. These must also have timelines and be measurable.
3. The specific tasks required to meet each objective – also time specific and measurable.

Use this method and you will find that meeting your goals becomes easier. Writing things down and actually following through on the plans can make many things in life much more fulfilling! And there is such a feeling of accomplishment, when even the smallest goals are completed! Try it, it’s worth it!

Is this really a good idea?

Living for today is always a good thing. If we cannot live for the time that we are actually living and instead live in another moment, whether it is the future or the past, then we are not truly living. However, only living for the present moment is not a good thing either. It has been stated (I forget where) that most people truly do not think beyond two or three days in the future. And this is also why people don’t truly make long term goals, for the most part. And perhaps it’s also why budget planning is not a big part of what we learn growing up.

It is important that we learn to handle our money. If we spent everything as we got it, truly only living for the moment, then there would never be anything available for the longer term expenses, even including housing, insurance, and groceries. Never mind what such a thing would do to emergency planning and retirement. While 75% of Americans surveyed stated that they have saved for retirement, only 13% are very confident that they will actually have enough to retire comfortably. And only 44% have actually done any kind of retirement needs calculation.

Perhaps it’s a good idea to actually make some plans for the future. Without planning and knowing how one is going to handle crisis, retirement, and upcoming large expenses, then there is no way that one can know exactly how much is required for these expenses. Sitting down and doing some kind of estimate, even a rough one, would make planning a lot easier. Realistic returns need to be taken into account on all savings, as well. This can give a sense of hope and security. And it might surprise people how little they actually need to retire. I’ve figured mine out. And in today’s dollars, assuming that I have no consumer debt, and that my kids are grown up, I can survive on less than $500,000 dollars in savings. In fact, that may even be high, especially if my taxes are low, or if I decide that I want to work part time. Actually, I know that I will do some income producing activity. It’s just the way I am and I will do it to keep myself occupied and happy, doing writing, consulting, teaching, or artwork of some form.

Planning for the future also allows one to live a better life today. With solid future plans, written goals and knowing how to accomplish them, one then has more security in the present. It’s easier to plan for the day when one knows exactly how much money is available for the present, allowing for all other plans. This makes living for today all that much better!