Pennysaverblog – Page 259 – Smart Finance and Money Saving Tips

3 Easy Tips To Help You Start Saving Money

Saving money isn’t as difficult as you may believe. You aren’t required to become a social outcast, eat poor quality food or move to a desolate part of town in order to stash away a few of your hard-earned dollars. The following tips offer sensible tips for saving money without sacrificing your current quality of life.

1. Set aside a percentage of income.
Automatically transfer a percentage of your income to a high interest savings account. By doing so, you won’t miss the money that is coming out of your check each pay period as you haven’t grown accustomed to receiving that share of money each week.

March 11, 2012

New Credits To Use On Your 2011 Tax Return

Children’s Art Credit: Enrolling children younger than 16 in artistic, cultural, recreational or development programs means parents can
claim up to $500 in registration or membership fees with the new Children’s Art Credit. This includes activities like scouting, painting, pottery and tutoring. It means about $75 in tax savings. And you can still claim the Children’s Fitness Credit for programs involving physical activity.

Examination fees: If you pay fees to take an examination that is required to obtain a professional status or to practice a profession or
trade, you can now claim them as tuition if the fees are more than $100.

Students studying abroad: Instead of having to study for 13 consecutive weeks outside of Canada, you can now study for only three
straight weeks and qualify for a tuition credit as well as the education and textbook tax credits.

March 9, 2012

Taxes

2011 Tax Deadline Extended Past April 15

With employers required to provide their employees their W2and 1099 forms by January 31, Americans have more than three months to file those dreaded tax returns. But for the procrastinators among us, we have good news. The deadline has been changed for 2012, giving taxpayers three extra days to file.

Generally the filing deadline is April 15 of each year. But when the deadline falls on a weekend, it’s pushed to the following Monday. Another day is added when the deadline falls on a federal holiday.

March 6, 2012

Debt

Household Debt Ceiling

Americans who want to maintain their standard of living should be careful not to follow the example of Uncle Sam by borrowing beyond their means to repay. But when you get to the point where you are prioritizing the bills, having to make choices about what to pay, you know that you are in real trouble.

It’s been some time since we’ve heard the constant barrage of news stories about the federal debt ceiling, a concept that is also an important line for households to draw. By establishing budget guidelines and a maximum amount of debt that can be responsibly managed (a debt ceiling), consumers can make great strides to becoming more financially secure.

Establishing a Ceiling
Before you can begin to plan a workable budget, you need to establish your personal debt ceiling, which is the maximum amount of debt you will allow. While it’s an arbitrary number, it’s a key to keeping debt under control with enough extra to put some away for a rainy day. Depending on how much you want to invest or save, decide on a maximum percentage of your total household income that you will be willing to use to pay for discretionary and non-discretionary expenditures. Keep in mind that a debt ceiling is not a static figure but changes whenever income raises or lowers.

March 1, 2012

Money Saving Tips

Gmail Call Phone – Make Calls For Free Within Canada And The US

I recently received a phone call from a good friend who is currently residing in the U.S. She told me she was calling me using her Gmail account. I had no idea there was a call phone feature on Gmail, so I had to learn more and share it with you.

As it turns out, you can find the Call phone feature on the left hand side of your screen when you sign into your Gmail account.

How it works

You can phone straight through to a landline or cell phone to practically anywhere in the world. Calls to the U.S. and Canada are free in 2012 and I checked international rates and they are very reasonable. The Gmail call phone would be a great way for you to connect with friends and loved ones overseas. Although the phone quality is not perfect, it is comparable to Skype. In fact, my friend who uses the Gmail Call phone frequently says it often works better for her than Skype as it doesn’t sound as choppy.

February 27, 2012

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