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Make bills your bitch. Read More...

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Miranda Marquit

Paying bills sucks.

No one likes doing it.

But proper adulting means you need to stay on top of your bills.

Dominate your bills.

Paying your bills on time can help you with your credit, and it ensures that you still have access to things like a place to live, your cell phone service, and electricity.

Your life will suffer if you get caught too far behind. When you don’t pay your bills, you can lose your apartment or house and all the other services you pay for. If you want to make your own decisions and live your life on your terms, you also have to be responsible and handle the business of paying bills.

You don’t have to do it on your own, though. Here are a few ways to help you stay on top of your bills.

1. Make it automatic.

One of my favorite tools is automation.

So many companies will let you automate your bill pay. My cell phone, internet, car loan, and rent payment are all automated. Gym membership, too.

Grocery delivery? Automatically taken care of each week. Same for the delivery from the dairy. Many power company also set up recurring billing. I was even able to set up recurring automatic payments for the medical bills I incurred earlier this year.

Finally, even my charitable donations are automated. That’s right. Not just my bills, but my donation to the local food bank is also automated.

The main pitfall to automation is that you have to stay on top of your bank account.

If the money is coming out of your bank account on a regular, automatic basis, you need to make sure the money is in there and available. Set up your automatic bill payments based on your income and cash flow.

Check due dates to ensure that you’ll have money in your account when the bills come out.

I like to use credit cards for most of my automated payments. This gives me a little breathing space when it comes to paying. I just have to make sure I pay off the credit card in full each month to avoid interest charges.

2. Use ANY personal finance software.

If you aren’t tracking your spending and planning your bills, there’s a good chance you could wind up in trouble. One of the best ways to avoid long-term problems with your finances is to know where the money is going.

Use personal finance software, like Mint or Personal Capital, to track your income and expenses. You can also use it to plan ahead and test out how your bills will impact your cash flow later in the month. Some sort of software is one of the keys to better finances and the ability to dominate your bills.

My personal finance software (Moneydance) allows me to set up reminders and automatic transaction entries so I can look ahead and see what bills are coming up. You can also use your own personal finance software to remind you when bills are due.

Even something like Mint, that syncs with your bank accounts and lets you see what you’ve been spending money on, can be a big help. Get real about where that money is going. Look it in the face. And then see what you need to do to make changes.

3. Check out a calendar app.

There are plenty of calendar apps to set up reminders that can help you dominate your bills.

Google Calendar and iCal from Apple are both good examples. If you do use these apps to pop up reminders for bills, set them to remind you at least 10 days in advance. You want to allow plenty of time for you to make your payment.

Whether you automate, schedule payments ahead of time, or write a check (really, though, who DOES that?), it’s important to look in and make sure everything is squared away.

A little calendar reminder can be just the thing to keep you on top of the situation. I schedule regular times to check my finances. Once a week I do a scan to see that there isn’t anything out of the ordinary with my money.

Later, the last Sunday of the month, I reconcile my accounts, just to stay on top of things. These “dates” with my money are blocked off on my calendar and I get reminders that they are approaching. This keeps me on task, and ensures that I remain connected to my money — even though there’s a lot of automation going on.

4. Designate a specific bill-paying time.

Pick a time of the week or the month to sit down and take care of money matters. This is what I was talking about above. You want to make sure you are consistent in your efforts to stay on top of your money.

I’m to the point where I mostly just check things out once a week. I have a specific time on Sunday (my least busy day) where I look into my accounts to ensure that there are no fraudulent purchases. Then I look at my personal finance software to see what bills are coming up. I verify that they are still on automatic withdrawal and that everything is on point. It takes me about 10 to 15 minutes.

Picking a time to have a sit-down with your money can at least help you pay all the bills due that week. You can also pick a bill-paying day and get everything paid for the whole month. Then you only have to worry about it one time each month, and that can help stay on top of your bills without a great deal of stress.

This only works, though, if you have structured your cash flow so that you have the money for paying everything at once. Or, you can schedule your payments all at once, but spread them out so that they better line up with your income.

No matter what, though, the idea is to figure out when you want to take care of your bills and then creating a standing appointment.

5. Ask for new due dates.

As you track your spending habits, eventually you’ll notice that sometimes it just doesn’t work out with due dates. Your bill due dates may not mesh with when you have money coming in from your job.

If you contact your service providers, you might be able to choose your own due dates. Choose dates that allow you to get money in the bank so it all works out. Many service providers are happy to let you switch if it means they know you’ll be ready to pay on time more often.

That’s #winning right there.

Dominate your bills so they don’t ruin you.

Paying bills is never fun, but it’s part of what you have to do as a proper (or even not-so-proper) adult.

Ugh.

But the good news is that there are plenty of tricks and resources that can help you dominate your bills so that they no longer run your life. You don’t have to live in fear of your due dates. Once you know where you stand, you can make a plan — and maybe even set things up so that you spend maybe an hour a month on your bills.

Get real about the situation, make a plan, change your due dates, and show your bills who’s boss.

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Reclaim your time! Get all the things done – just not all by you. Read More...

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John Schneider

Consider how much you’re paid per hour. Then, consider how many hours a week you spend on tasks that you’d rather not do or that distract you from higher-paying opportunities. Are you saving money or losing money by doing jobs for yourself that someone else might do more efficiently?

It’s somewhat counterintuitive to think that hiring someone to do things you can do for yourself may be better for your money and your family. However, if you’re paid $30/hour, does it make sense to perform a task that someone else can do for $15/hour? No. It makes more sense to continue working for $30/hour, pay someone else $15/hour. You still net $15.

Of course, most of us can’t contract our every routine task, but even freeing ourselves of one such task can produce great results. Here are nine tasks you may want to outsource to have more money.

Grocery shopping.

Once upon a time, having your groceries delivered to your house was only for the richest of the rich. Today, it’s way more popular for even us commoners to have groceries delivered to our houses or ready for pick-up at the grocery store.

When I go to our local grocery store lately, there are as many Amazon shoppers as there are actual patrons. I think this is a good thing.

Grocery shopping is mundane and can take up way more time than it’s worth. Companies such as Amazon, InstaCart, and Peapod save hundreds of thousands of people from this chore and letting them focus on higher returning activities.

Cooking.

My husband and I love cooking, but with building a business and him still working a W-2, we just don’t have the time. We don’t want to resort to fast food because we like to eat healthily. Therefore, we hired a personal chef. Before you start claiming that we’re the richest of the rich, just know that personal chefs can be reasonably priced.

We hired a personal chef who recently graduated from culinary school and she’s building her resume. We’re happy to have her experiment on us. It saves us money and time and is helping her start her career. Once a week, she comes to our house and cooks several lunches and dinners for us that require minimal preparation on our part. Our diet is healthy and diverse.

You don’t have to hire a personal chef, though. Hello Fresh and Blue Apron deliver meals direct to your door. Bigger cities are even getting their own meal delivery services. In Denver, we have The Spicy Radish. A simple Google search may help you find a local delivery service in your area.

These services provide a healthy, diverse menu that requires minimal involvement on your part. It’s one less thing to think about that day, which reserves your time for more important thinking, and the meals save a great deal of time preparing.

House cleaning.

How much time each week do you spending cleaning your home? Or, when was the last time your home was clean? What would you rather be doing, or how could you better spend your time?

I love my cleaning ladies! I love a clean house, but I don’t love cleaning. The toilet bowl needs to be clean, but I’d rather spend my time building my business and with my husband. The last thing I want to do with the few spare hours a week I have is clean my toilets.

This helps the economy and others, in addition to helping me. I spend my time making money doing what I do best and pay someone else to do what they do best. Plus, they do in two hours what would take my husband and me six hours.

Home repairs & maintenance.

This is exactly what I did recently. My husband and I decided it’s time to sell our condo. Before we put our place on the market, we decided we needed to do some touch-ups and repairs to our place.

None of it is major work, but it would take a major amount of our time if we did them ourselves. We’re capable of doing them, but we’re not proficient. Plus, we’re growing a business, and our time is better spent growing our business than painting, scraping, and sanding.

Therefore, we’ve contracted out most of the work. My husband and I each make more money per hour than what we’re paying any of these professionals per hour. Plus, they do a better job.

Everyday errands.

Do you have a bunch of errands you’d love to take off your plate? Need pictures hung on your wall? Need that new Ikea furniture to be put together? Urgently need something delivered across town but can’t get away from your desk?

Your time and money are better spent closing your next deal and hiring someone from Task Complete or TaskRabbit to complete your task. Thousands of people are freelancing to do simple to complex tasks for others as a side hustle.

Travel arrangements.

Have a big trip planned but haven’t planned it? Let someone better skilled, better educated on travel and better connected to plan it for you. Sure, you can book your flight from St. Paul to Austin, but what about the bigger trips to Playa del Carmen or Lisbon or Sydney?

For bigger travel, we always use our travel agent. We’ve had her for years. We don’t pay more than we would if we booked all the travel ourselves, but she uses her systems and connections to make better accommodations for us. She finds those hidden deals and gets us the special perks that we wouldn’t know about or think to ask.

This saves us money or gets us more for our money while we’re still working for our money.

Email and calendar management.

For some people, it makes sense to hire an assistant to manage personal emails and calendars, book reservations or plan an event. Get Friday offers personal assistants that can handle all matters from personal to professional.

Managing personal emails has nearly become a full-time job. Managing all that you do along with yours and your family’s personal calendars is like herding cats. Hire someone to help you become more efficient and organized, then you’ll waste less of your precious time on little tasks.

Lawn maintenance & gardening.

After putting in 40 to 60 hours a week, some people like being outside and working in their garden. Others, like me, hate it.

Free up your personal time by hiring someone from CraigsList or Angie’s List to take better care of your lawn and garden with better equipment and skill than you. They’ll do a better and faster job, and you’ll be freed to relax and rejuvenate alone or with your family or spend more time making more money.

Laundry.

Laundry is another task that many of us would do well to pay someone else to do. The cost to have someone pick up, launder, and then return your laundry can range between $1 to $3 a pound. For many people, this often equates to $20 to $25 per week. If you’re like me, you spend more than that on a bottle of wine on a Wednesday night.

Plus, with their equipment, they can clean your clothing better and more properly. Likewise, they can save you countless hours of folding, so you can spend more hours growing your business and bank account.

We may love the idea of saving a few dollars here and there by doing certain tasks ourselves, but when you look at both sides of your personal balance sheet, it may make more economic sense to pay someone to do some of these tasks for you. You might save $20 doing a job yourself, but you could earn $30 by hiring someone to do it for you, and that’s money.

Do you outsource personal tasks we haven’t listed here? What are the pros or cons you’ve found? Let us know in the #Adulting Facebook community.

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Don’t let the holiday music and parties get you off your game. Here’s how to enjoy the season while keeping things together! Read More...

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Michelle Jackson

I live in Colorado and as I’m writing this we are gearing up for our first snow day…even though the weather has been near 80 degrees for the past couple of days. Weather whiplash is a very real thing and so is decreased productivity during the holiday season and colder months.

This year has been epically crazy, so a lot of people will probably be caught off guard by the fact that the holiday season is just around the corner. OMG. You’re probably having a minor panic attack as you read that sentence and I’m right there with you. I’m freaking out because the holidays have historically killed my productivity if I don’t have a well-thought-out plan.

Let’s plan together and stay on top of things.

Work your schedule.

First, spend some time reviewing your schedule from October through January. Why those four months in particular? They are the four months where people begin to shop more, celebrate the holidays, and have a substantial uptick in personal plans.

Those plans may include: trips to visit relatives or friends, holiday parties, going to the theater, or hosting an event at your home.

Grab your planner and write down as many of those events as possible so that you have a clear idea of what’s coming up. Then, remove any event or activity that isn’t 100% necessary from your schedule. By taking the action of removing unnecessary events from your schedule you’re creating a buffer in your schedule and freeing yourself from obligations that will ultimately distract you from taking care of the things that are important.

Fall in love with the word NO!

The holiday season tugs on many people’s emotions. As a result, people may find themselves saying “yes” to activities that are a distraction. People may also need to say “no” when asked to participate in activities with emotional vampires.

You’re probably wondering how an emotional vampire affects your productivity? Well, they suck your energy dry. If drama ensues (and it typically does) with an emotional vampire, you’re getting sucked into calls recapping and discussing whatever imagined drama that the emotional vampire is upset about.

Saying “no” will be one of your most powerful productivity tools this holiday season. You’ll thank me later! On the flipside of this, say “yes” to activities with people that will lift you up and fill you with joy.

Shop from home.

In the age of Amazon Prime, Hello Fresh, Thrive Market, and Safeway grocery delivery, why on earth do you still insist on going to the grocery store several times a week? On Saturday or Sunday take some time to review your upcoming week. Create a meal plan and order your groceries or a meal kit service.

If you’re needing new clothes, order them instead of going to the store, and if you’re feeling especially focused on embracing systems to make your life easier, you may consider scheduling someone to help with cleaning during weeks when you have a ton of guests or just an especially hectic schedule. Don’t clean before the cleaners arrive – that’s a waste of your time!

Spend time getting ahead wherever you can. Here are some personal and professional examples:

If you celebrate Thanksgiving and plan on having guests that weekend, begin planning NOW. Start picking up non-perishable items such as: condensed milk, extra aluminum foil, the baking pan for the turkey, or canned cranberry jelly. Or, you could order a pre-made meal and save your time for spending time with friends and family.
Work backward on your projects. What do I mean by this? Look at the projects you’re currently working on and spend time getting ahead of those projects by looking at the end result you’re working towards. Figure out the deadline for those tasks and then work backward from that deadline. You’ll most like complete those projects faster and you’ll also create a time buffer because you’ll be ahead of your schedule.
Digital content creator? Blogger or Podcaster? Spend some time scheduling your content ahead (building a content buffer) similar to what was mentioned during the previous point.

Part of managing and maintaining your productivity is acknowledging that you can’t do everything and that the holiday season is a constant process of balancing:

Your expectations
Other people’s expectations
Social Commitments
Work

Maintaining your productivity during the holidays ultimately requires you to give yourself some grace, focus on one day at a time, and have realistic expectations of what you can do for you and what you can do for others.

Do you have any good tips to share? Let us know in the #Adulting Facebook community.

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We hear horror stories about taxes, but for most people, it’s not so bad. Here’s what you need to know as a tax filing virgin. Read More...

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Miranda Marquit

Ugh. Taxes.

Preparing your taxes for the first time isn’t exactly fun.

The good news, though, is that it doesn’t have be scary. We hear horror stories, but it’s not as bad as all that.

A little knowledge goes a long way. Before you get caught up in a worry spiral, here are a few things to know about preparing your taxes for the first time:

There’s plenty of free tax help available.

First of all, realize that there is plenty of free tax help available to you.

If you live in a college town, there’s a good chance that you can get help from students in the accounting program. Many business departments encourage students to prepare tax returns, and their instructors double-check their work.

Also, see if your local area has a VITA program. These sites help you prepare your taxes if you make $54,000 or less. It’s a good way to get another pair of eyes and some solid support for your tax prep needs.

You can even file your taxes for free.

If you’re doing your taxes for the first time, there’s a good chance you qualify to file for free. Assuming your household income is less than $64,000, you can take advantage of Free File.

Well-known companies like TurboTax and H&R Block participate in Free File options. Plus, depending on your state, you might even get free help filing your state taxes.

You don’t have to itemize for good tax deductions.

When you hear words like “itemize,” you probably zone out. The good news is that you probably don’t have to worry about itemizing when preparing your taxes for the first time. You won’t even miss out on some pretty sweet deductions, either.

Some of the deductions you’re most likely to take this go are on the first page of your Form 1040. These include:

Moving expenses (if you move for work)
Student loan interest
Tuition and fees
Portion of your self-employment tax (if you have a side gig)

There are other deductions you can take without itemizing, such as contributions to your Health Savings Account and to your Traditional IRA.

You can keep digital records.

It’s possible to prepare your taxes with the help of your phone. On top of that, you can keep digital records of your receipts and other records you might need. An app like Shoeboxed can help you manage everything digitally, so there’s no need to mess with paper.

Just scan everything or snap a picture and manage it digitally so you can streamline the process. It makes things easier, whether you’re filing taxes for the first time or the tenth.

File an extension if you need to.

Stressed about getting everything done by April 15?

Slow down, take a deep breath. Then file an extension. The last thing you want to do is rush through the process and make unnecessary mistakes.

While filing an extension doesn’t protect you from paying if you owe (but, really, if this is your first time with taxes, you probably don’t), but it can give you time to get your shit together.

It’s much less stressful to file an extension than try to get everything done on time if you’ve fallen behind. And you don’t even need any special reason to file for an extension.

You’ll feel better in the future if you plan ahead and manage your taxes as you go through the year, but for now, file that extension if you feel the pressure to get done on time.

Stay away from scams and refund anticipation loans.

Even seasoned tax filers sometimes make poor decisions — and that includes getting scammed.

Watch out for tax preparers that are willing to fudge the numbers a bit or claim that you are “guaranteed” something before they even know your situation.

Stick with the old standbys when you first file your taxes. Reputable and well-known tax prep software, or those retail tax prep places are usually good bets for tax filing virgins. As your situation becomes more complicated, you can start looking for more tailored advice.

While you’re at it, watch out for people who will “accelerate” your refund. In most cases, those are costly loans that come with huge fees.

The truth is that, even if you are doing your taxes for the first time, you can get your refund fast by filing electronically and choosing the direct deposit option. You don’t need an expensive loan to get your refund quickly.

Double-check everything before you send it in.

Before you send in your return, make sure that you check everything.

Even if you trust your tax preparer, look over everything. If you find a mistake after hit send, you have to file an amended return, and that is a real pain in the ass. You can only file an amended return in hardcopy.

Whether your doing taxes for the first time, or you’re an old pro, take a few minutes to review your return, and see if it makes sense. You’ll be happy you did.

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You can learn many lessons about being an adult from a teenager. This teen may even be a better adult than you are. Read More...

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Miranda Marquit

What makes an adult?

According to society and government, once you reach age 18 you are considered an adult. You can make your own decisions and sign legal documents. But just because you are a certain age, does that make you an adult?

While you might technically be an adult, the actual act of adulting is a little bit harder. Functioning as a successful adult requires more than just turning 18.

In fact, as I look at some of the things so-called adults do (or don’t do), I realize that there is a lot that 21-year-olds can learn from my 13-year-old son. Hell, there are probably some days that my son is actually a better adult than I am.

Here are some of the life skills that my 13-year-old excels at, and will help him when he becomes an actual adult.

Time management.

If you want to be a better adult and more successful in life, time management is key. We all have days when we don’t want to get something done wrong we have a hard time getting a handle on the clock. The idea, though, is to do our best to plan ahead so that we can manage our obligations.

A couple weeks ago, my son and I were talking about our after-school day. I reminded him that I had a meeting to go to and that he would be on his own after dinner. He mentioned that he knew that he would need help with his homework and suggested that we tackle the homework first, before he practiced saxophone. Rather then springing the homework on me after I returned from my meeting, he thought ahead to all of what he needed to do that afternoon and took the initiative to make sure he had time for all of his obligations.

Sometimes we just run out of that time and we have to choose between different activities. That’s just life. Adulting is recognizing that sometimes you do have control over your time, and making sure you prioritize what is most important.

Do you have to be told what needs to be done?

We only need direction sometimes, especially when we’re learning something new. However, if you want to be a better an adult you need to recognize that sometimes you just need to do what needs to be done without being told.

My son comes home from school and knows he needs to take care of certain things. He has music practice, fencing practice, and homework. I don’t need to tell him to get started on these things; even on days he doesn’t necessarily want to get going, you still getting started even if I’m not home too tell him to do so.

After I broke my wrist my son really stepped up, keeping track of when he needed to start the laundry and paying attention to what time to start dinner. In many cases, he saw would need to be done and went ahead and did it.

Eat healthy meals.

We all like junk food. I’d rather eat cake than make a salad. However, I know that macaroni and cheese for dinner every day and over processed foods aren’t good for me. So I don’t make them very often.

My son is learning how to be a better adult by making better food choices. When he make dinner, he includes a fruit and vegetable in addition to whatever the entrée is. He helps with cooking, and is capable of reading a recipe. Thanks to Blue Apron, it’s possible for him to see you what we plan to have and get step-by-step instructions on making a nutritious dinner.

Track your spending.

Maybe it’s because I write about money, but my son is already learning habits that many 20-somethings I know don’t have down. I recently got him a debit card, and he is very good about tracking his spending.

He also takes the time to think about what he wants to buy with his money. He almost most never makes an impulse purchase because he had a clear idea of what he hopes to use his money for, and the knowledge that if he uses his money on something today he won’t be able to buy something else tomorrow.

He’s also learning to give money to charity and set aside money for the future. He follows the stock market because he is investing in an index fund with his long-term savings money.

Finally, he’s constantly thinking of other ways to make money. He works hard and his 4-H projects so that he can earn ribbon money, and he helps out with administrative duties in my home office. He also has big plans for a YouTube channel and other online ventures. We’ll see if he follows through with any of them.

Obviously my 13-year-old is not ready for many of the responsibilities associated with being an adult. But he’s got a pretty good handle on things.

What do you think makes an adult? Are there some things that you see so-called adults doing that aren’t very adult-like at all? How are you trying to be a better adult?

Like what you’ve read?

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