Personalfinance tips

Long time lurker here and I finally want to post/share something that really helped me and my wife to understand our budget and be responsible for our financial actions. My wife especially really struggled to understand the importance of a budget and never really was into finances as a topic to begin with. So creating a nice visual out of your boring excel file made her help understand our budget. https://imgur.com/a/cm5dH6nWe used http://sankeymatic.com/build/ to create that one but you can use pretty much anything. Even drawing something to look at by hand can work wonders.

Frustrated with my rising cable internet bill I called my ISP today (Time Warner Cable) to see why my rates had risen so much. They said my previous rate was a special and had expired, but suggested I buy my own cable modem as a way to cut down my bill. Looking into it a compatible (and fairly highly rated) cable modem was $70. Since I pay $8 a month in modem rental fees (which vary from ISP to ISP in the usual range of $6 to $10) this modem will pay for itself in 9 months and will save me $8 a month after that. It comes with a two year warranty, so even if it craps out at 2 years and a day I'm still guaranteed to save at least $120.

Line 10, where you enter the previous years state tax refund. I know of many people that are upset about this, but don't understand it.If you did not itemize, or otherwise claim as a deduction state taxes on the previous year's 1040, you do not need to enter your state refund on this line.If you did itemize last year, you typically put the amount of state taxes withheld as reported on your W2. But since this number is bigger than your actual owed state taxes (assuming you get a state tax refund), that is the reason you have to claim your refund on the next year's taxes.Too many people enter their state tax refund on line 10 even if they did not itemize the previous year. This is a mistake.

Last year, I got a new AT&T fiber connection and the rep on the online chat said that I would get a lifetime price on my connection. I told them, it wasn't listed anywhere on the website or on my receipt so how would I prove it to you guys later? They replied, request a chat transcript after we're done and use that as proof of coverage for this offer. And so I did. Fast forward to 12 mo's later and predictably, my monthly charge went up, so I called them. After being kicked around on the phone, waiting for 50+ mins on hold, I got on the chat again and gave them the Id number for the chat transcript from last year. Ten minutes later, boom, got my lifetime pricing back, and this time again, they said, if this happens next year, provide the transcript for this chat and it should be resolved quickly.So, keep a paper trail, y'all!

Whether you practice a traditional budget, the anti-budget, or a spending plan, it’s important that you plan for the year ahead. “Refresh your yearly budget to account for changes to your income and expenses, and maintain a realistic view of your financial plan,” says Shahar Ziv, founder of Acing Your Finances, a financial education firm. “Oftentimes, expenses rise in the new year — landlords raise rent, monthly premiums on health insurance go up — and, hopefully, income rises too.  Refreshing your budget will give you a more accurate view for the new year and allow you to reallocate ahead of time,” he says. Changing your financial life can be tough, but don’t let the big picture get you down. Using these 31 personal finance tips, you can take steps every day to better your financial situation.