Saving Tips From The Green Granny

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From Springwise, I heard about how Oxfam recently recruited a team of what it calls “Green Grannies” to offer saving advice to the UK public about everything from how to darn socks to how to make delicious food from leftovers. This is particularly interesting in this economic crisis that we can rely on older generation to show people how do a whole lot with little money. The wisdom of our seniors is golden.

Web 2 Point Dough: Booted, Shoeboxed and Widgeted

GoBootstrap is a new online bookeeping application.  Sign up is free right now while the site is in Beta.  Two cool things that I like about this site is that you can import invoices from Freshbooks, and it builds you Schedule C as you input your income and expenses. This is so cool for filing quarterly taxes.

ING Direct is really getting everyone on board with saving.  You can now add an ING Saving Tips Widget to your Google homepage.

Shoeboxed.com which is like “Netflix for receipts” will scan your business cards and receipts. Plus, now Shoeboxed now supports Quickbooks integration.

10 Personal Finance Commandments For The “Dirty Flirty 30s”

Kiplinger Editor Erin Burt compiled a great list of things that for your finances while in your thirties. The first one is exactly what I am working on now which is getting rid of non-mortgageable debt.

1. Pay off your nonmortgage debt. Your thirties bring financial responsibilities you may not have had in your twenties, such as a mortgage or a family. Nothing frees up cash to meet those obligations like getting rid of your debt. We hope you paid off your credit cards in your twenties (if you didn’t, make it a top priority). Next, focus on getting rid of student loans and other nonmortgage debt, such as auto loans.

Read the rest of the commandments on Kiplinger.

Personal Finance Corner: Filing Taxes Online and Using Blue AmEx

My good friend sent me personal finance advice that I thought I would pass on this information to Keeping Nickels readers.

I personally recommend and use TaxAct. People should remember that they may be able to access free filing services via IRS’s FreeFile program Check www.irs.gov/efile for details after January 16.  A lot of people  still don’t realize how much faster they will get their money if they do it onlin, and still file paper returns or, even worse, get the “loans” from the filing services.

Another little personal finance thing: I recommend to anyone the American Express Blue card which has no annual fee and the same excellent Amex 24-hour emergency travel assistance services.

Addressed To The Nines: Gather Information To Prepare 1099s ASAP

 

Happy New Year! Did you procure the services of independent contractors/freelancers during 2008? If so, then you send forms to those people by January 31, 2009. This year January 31 is a Saturday, so you actually have until February 2. 1099-MISC (Miscellaneous Income) forms are the forms must be issued by your business when you pay  independent contractors $600 or more for services. To complete the forms, you need a list of all the independent contractors, their current address and social security number.

You can purchase the forms and envelopes cheaply at Staples ($15.99 for 24 forms) or you can order them from Quickbooks.  Make sure to purchase 1099-MISC forms. Last year, one of my clients picked up the 1099-INT forms by mistake.   If you are using Quickbooks, you can run a 1099 vendor report to get a list of the total amount paid to vendors.  If you don’t use Quickbooks or another accounting system, then just review your check register and add up all payments made to each independent contractors.

The deadline for issuing 1099 forms is February 2, so get the forms and envelopes now!