It’s My Imagination

Some Home Improvements are not Worth the Money

August 20, 2008 on 4:14 pm | In Finance | No Comments

Many years ago we were living in Houston, Texas. Houston is very hot and humid, but otherwise, a beautiful place to live. We had our home built from the ground up on a beautiful, tree filled lot in a wonderful sub-division very near to my husband’s employer. We both had good full time jobs, great neighbors and plenty to do. We really thought we would be in that house long term.

After living in our home for 5 years, we decided to take the plunge, literally, and have an in ground swimming pool built. My husband met with a pool builder and even helped design the pool itself. We got a home improvement loan and within a few months, we were swimming in our beautiful new pool in our own back yard. We worked hard and did all the landscaping around the pool ourselves. It was totally awesome, in every way.

Then it happened, my husband was very unexpectedly laid off from his job. Not only that, we had just learned that I was pregnant with our daughter. So, now we had a lovely home with a lovely pool and a lovely baby on the way, but the primary earner of our family was now out of a lovely job. My first thought was that we were going to be in need of debt help.

I have always been a very financially responsible individual and being in need of debt relief took me by surprise. Having just taken out a home improvement loan in order to put in the swimming pool, I had to look at other ways to keep ourselves afloat. One of the first things we did was to put our house up for sale, we figured we could always move into something smaller or rent, but the housing market in Houston was pretty flat. There was a lot of new home construction in the area which made it difficult to sell an existing home.

Over time, I managed to find methods of debt consolidation that worked for us.  We were able to pay off our vehicles, and my husband found a new job. We did end up selling our home and moved to Connecticut. It was all an extremely stressful time and a period of time I hope never to repeat.  I do know that we’ll never build a swimming pool ourselves again, it is not worth the money.  The house we have now was pre-existing and all ready had a pool.  That’s the only way to go in my opinion!

I always like to know exactly where we stand financially.  If you would like to have a better understanding of your overall financial health and ways to improve your financial score you may want to check out BillsIQ.

Tags: Bill IQ, debt consolidation, debt help, debt relief

Mrs. Fields to File Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

August 18, 2008 on 6:40 pm | In Finance | 2 Comments

Another company is biting the dust. Well, at least it’s taking that first fateful  step. According to Fox Business News, Cookie maker Mrs. Fields is planning to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Besides owning all the cookie stands inside of malls, Mrs. Fields also owns TCBY yogurt. Personally, I believe TCBY may have been the beginning of their downfall.  TCBY is one of those companies that could be good, but the ones I’ve been inside of in recent years are dirty and have poor customer service.

Mrs. Fields is currently $200 million in debt and losing money at a rather rapid pace. While filing Chapter 11 does not necessarily mean that Mrs. Fields will be going out of business, it doesn’t look too good. The company has remained privately owned since its inception in the 1970’s.

Tags: bankruptcy, Fields, Fox Business, Mrs

Health Savings Account

August 10, 2008 on 6:52 pm | In Family Health, Finance | No Comments

This is our first year to have a Federal Health Savings Account.  The HSA has money deducted directly from the paycheck on a pre-tax basis and then can be used to pay for health expenses that health insurance doesn’t cover.  Qualified expenses include co-pays, certain over the counter medications, eyeglasses and contact lenses (not covered by other insurance).  The downsided of an HSA is that if you don’t use the money by the end of the plan year, you lose whatever is left in the account.

This possibility of losing money has caused me to be very nervous about the whole thing.  The primary reason we chose to use a HSA this year was because our daughter was having braces put on her teeth.  This is a huge expense, but, as I’ve since learned, we don’t pay it all up front.  We paid a percentage down and the rest is paid in monthly payments.  Our dental insurance picks up a portion as well, so we had to calculate what our portion was going to be.

I did all the calculations and had the exact amount.  We had planned on paying the full amount of our portion up front. Then after submitting the paperwork and meeting the deadline, I discovered that orthodontic expenses are REQUIRED to be payment on a monthly payment basis in order to qualify for the HSA.  WTH?!  So, we lost out on the 10% discount the orthodontist offered for full payment, in order to use pre-tax dollars to pay for our daughter’s braces.

I spent a good part of today calculating how our account is balancing out.  Because we’re paying the orthodontist monthly, we wouldn’t be using the entire amount of money we put into the account this year.  In order to not lose the money, I’ve also used it to pay for my new prescription sunglasses as well as several prescriptions and doctor visit copays.  I feel confident now that at the end of the year, we will have used our pre-tax money and used it wisely.

Soon, I will need to be calculating how much will need to go in to next year’s Health Savings Account.

Tags: health savings accounts, HSA

Buy or Lease Your Next Auto Purchase

August 7, 2008 on 3:54 pm | In Finance | No Comments

With the economy the way it is, car companies are suffering financially. Besides have to refit their manufacturing plants to build smaller cars instead of big SUVs, the financial divisions of the major auto companies are also busy refitting their financial offerings.

Recent news has reported that most of the auto finance companies will no longer be offering personal leasing options. Leases are based on knowing (or making a good estimate) of the residual value of the vehicle at the end of the lease. Knowing the residual value in today’s economy has become more and more difficult and finance companies are no longer willing to take the risk.

Many individuals leased vehicles because it allowed them to get into a possibly more expensive car while still having a manageable monthly payment. With auto leasing no longer being so easy to come by, it is good to have an option such as online car loans such as that through up2drive. Upd2drive has no hidden costs, no application fees and its customer service is award winning. They handle loans for all makes and models of vehicles.

Whatever your auto financial needs, look for an auto loan specialist.

Tags: auto loans, online car loans

Material Handling

August 6, 2008 on 5:24 pm | In Finance, My Imagination | No Comments

Last month, I attended my first event where I had a booth and attempted to sell my handmade fabric creations. Prior to that sale, I was a flurry of activity trying to build my inventory and have enough to display. There were many days when I felt like a machine, trying to cut, sort and assemble all the various parts that go into a fabric tote bag or purse.

Obviously, I’m not a large manufacturer, but if I were (and maybe I will be someday), I would definitely visit Conveyor Systems & Engineering, Inc., and look into purchasing a conveyor system to help with my production. This company produces and sells many material handling conveyors, including those used in food handling. In today’s economy, it’s even more critical that businesses operate efficiently and cost effectively. Utilizing a high quality conveyor is a huge step in the right direction.

Tags: conveyor, conveyor system, www.CSEConveyors.com

Paying For Orthodontia Without a Payday Loan

August 2, 2008 on 6:44 pm | In Family Health, Finance | 2 Comments

We are now almost 4 months in to my daughter’s orthodontia treatment. She had her top braces put on in April and everything is moving along quite nicely. In fact, her teeth are cooperating so well, that she’ll be getting her bottom braces on in a little over a week, 4 months ahead of schedule.

Orthodontia is so expensive, I spent months planning how we were going to pay for it. Thankfully, we’re able to put money aside in a pre-tax health savings account and our dental insurance is covering a small portion of the cost. It does mean that I have to maintain very good records of the expenses, but at least I’m not having to take out a Payday Loan to cover the cost. It’s nice knowing that I’m not having to put this expense on credit. After all, we are trying to reduce our debt, not increase it. I never want to be someone that has to worry about getting loans for bad credit. I do my very best to keep our credit rating in excellent shape.

So, we’ll be back at the orthodontist in a few days for my daughter to have spacers put in her lower teeth. Then, the following week she’ll have the actual braces put in. I just can’t get over the progress we’ve all ready seen!

Tags: orthodontics, payday loans

Financial Counseling

June 26, 2008 on 8:49 pm | In Finance | No Comments

One of the first things we did when we relocated was to find a new financial advisor. I believe it’s important to have someone who will not only offer financial advice, but also answer my questions. Trust me, I ask a lot of questions.

Our retirement funds and my daughter’s college savings are very important to me and I want to make sure they’re earning a good return. We want to make sure we have an individual who is monitoring our investments for us, not just putting them in a file and letting the file collect dust.

If you haven’t yet found a qualified financial counselor and are in the Baltimore area, you might want to consider contacting George Divel who runs his own investment firm, Global Wealth Advisors. Whether it’s stocks and bonds, mutual funds or retirement planning, we all need someone who is licensed, experienced, and with our interests in mind.

Tags: financial counseling, George Divel