Keeping Good Records

With so much financial hustle n' bustle in our daily lives, it helps to have a guiding light to keep us on track. About.com's Jeremy Bowinkle has 10 tips to help you solve and manage your financial troubles.

We'll be counting down to one from number 10. Start the drumroll, please.

10. Keep Good Records

If you don't keep good records, you're probably not claiming all your allowable income tax deductions and credits. Set up a system now and use it all year. It's much easier than scrambling to find everything at tax time, only to miss items that might have saved you money.

This is true. While as a 24-year-old in-school-individual, my taxes are fairly simple, I have a huge amount of paperwork and receipts piled up carelessly in a file folder dating back from 2003. While it's fun to have all that all neatly stacked up, the hording must stop. If you're just an individual, not a business, you only need to keep records for the past three years. Any more than this and you're becoming a pack rat. I'm going to go clean out my records now in preparation for coming tax season, I hope you do the same, and good luck to us all.

Update

Money I have in debt so far is about 12000 in student loans and about 1000 from Millwood Hospital. Plus the 5000 they are going to give me. It's looking like I'll be focused on putting that 5000 into a CD, which will double it in a years or certain amount a months time. Therefore, making me money, with which to pay back my student loans.

While I do this there is the MAV Promise which I'm not quite sure I'm eligible, I will use to further fund my education. After tax season comes the FAFSA. Things are moving pretty smoothly, with the exception of me overspending my monthly budget. Ah well, things will work out in the end.


Thanks for following. Tip of the week: Use your money to make money, invest in CDs.

Sniffles of June

Seems people are getting sick (use those tissues!) and my debt keeps getting paid. I'm now the proud owner of a 10,709.35$ debt. Which is fantastic comparing it to last year. All I have left to pay is Millwood Hospital and my student loans.

The things you can do. Get creative with your debt. Are there any skills you could trade to pay your debt? I'm considering teaching a knitting class at Millwood Hospital in exchange for my debt. This is a way of making debt fun and manageable for you.

Sorry Folks

For not posting in such a long time. It feels like quite a long time. But my bills have only tripled in number. I have $72.00 from Questcare, then 2 times $146.36 from Quest Diagnostics, $100 from the Outpost Apartments (yes, I still owe them). I have $186.97 from Medical Center of Arlington, then $1,046.38 from the Medical Center in Arlington. Lastly, I owe $839.93 to Millwood Hospital and then a bunch of student loans.

What am I doing to pay these bills? Nothing! Ha, ha, ha.

Actually, I'm working at Kroger, which I hate. And I've applied for another job. Which makes twice the money in half the time actually doing something that I like, taking pictures of people.

Everyone who reads this, I encourage to check out my other blog, www.UTAstudent.blogspot.com.
Where I dish out lifestyle advice and comment on stuff that goes on around campus.

Other Things in Life

237 dollars just for tuition today.

When am I ever going to get the money to pay my other bills? There's bills from the hospital, and bills from the emergency room and bills coming out the wahzoo. I'm a wreck financially.

But there is a job and my dad sends me money on occasion.

It's easy to look at these disgusting bills and get discouraged. But, generally, there's more to life than bills. Like school and hanging out with others, and relationships and life in general brings.

Things like reading the Bible every night and the footnotes. Learning that Issac was a picture of Christ and all he had to do was to receive the Bride.

Exercising that extra 10 minutes. And it being worth it.

Then getting that morning cup of coffee, which is what I'm about to do.

The Way Things Are

Ok, I got another bill yesterday for bukos of billions of dollars. Really just about a thousand dollars more. The upside is that I received a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to Geico. Not really, I got one hundredish back from some hospital who I had sent money to.

Also thought I had a millions dollars won in prize money, but my dad and brother both told me they were scam artists so they must be scam artists. They could be wrong, right? I wish I had the money, but know in the long run it wouldn't help me, as an individual, grow.

I could have all the money in the world and yet bad spending habits would get me in the end. Like the money I got from that hundred dollars, I may spend on a birthday present for my brother, and not on bills so sorely needed.

That's life, I guess.

2008

Here we are in 2008. I can't believe and I'm just bursting with what the new year has in store for us.

My debts are still as follows: $100 to the Outpost Apartments, $186.97 to the Medical Center of Arlington, $939.93 to the Millwood Hospital. Finally, $10,304.00 in student loans.

What my true assets are: my health, my family, and my enthusiasm for life.

No matter what my debts are, I can always look at the benefits and life and weigh the pros versus the cons.

Life is worth it. So are you.