End of Year Crunch

I don't know about everybody else, but I'm swamped. Everybody is right on top of things this year and everyone wants their books done yesterday. Not that I'm complaining. I love the work. And I'm very happy to have everyone on the ball and not having to track them down myself. But whewee I am going to be burning the midnight oil for a while.
So get your books in shape now!

It's Almost Year End!

Oh no! December 31st is approaching! Rapidly! Are your books in order? Your accounts up to date? Are you realising that you should have been entering your financial info into some sort of software program all year long?
Grab that big brown bag of receipts and get a move on. It may be time to call in a professional bookkeeper to minimize your frustration and maximize the benefits. It will cost you a lot less than having your CPA work through it when he is trying to prepare your tax returns.

New Federal Withholding Tables

Thanks to the federal stimulus package that reduced federal withholding amounts for most of the year you will now be getting a smaller paycheck. The tables are again being readjusted to remedy errors in the original package. It may be too little to late though. Many taxpayers are expected to have reduced refunds or even worse - owe at the end of the year. Prepare yourself accordingly.

Bank Recs

It's amazing how many people don't reconcile their bank accounts on a monthly basis. To me this is essential to keeping track of your finances. Especially if you are using a debit card. This way you can make sure that every bank transaction is valid and that you have accounted for them all.
If you aren't keeping track of what is happening in your bank account how will you know if you are a victim of fraud or identity theft?
With online banking access it is easier than ever to track this. I highly recommend it for everyone - business and personal.

Mortgage Crisis

I read a cheery bit by the Associated Press yesterday that predicted the mortgage crisis was going to get worse before it gets better. They were predicting the bottom hitting in 2011 and that roughly half of americans now owe more on their home than it is worth.
It's kind of depressing news. Although I guess not surprising.
It emphasizes the need to keep your finances in order and to know where you stand at all time.

Wake Up Call

Tracking our personal expenses in QuickBooks has definately been a wake up call. It's great to know how much you've spent so far each month and where you are spending. It makes it a lot easier to create a budget and to see where you are overspending.

I think everyone should use some type of software or tracking program for their expenses. Some banks offer online tracking of expense types. There is also mint.com, which is a free online service that connects to your online bank accounts and allows you to easily track your spending.

So take charge of your finances. You know you need to.

Personal Finances in a Tough Economy

With the rapidly dwindling economy and the scarcity of dollars, my husband and I recently decided to keep better track of our personal finances. We decided the best way to do that was using QuickBooks software.

Step 1: We set up a company for our personal accounts.
Step 2: We entered in our bank accounts including opening balances for our selected start date.
Step 3: We each enter our own bank & cash transactions on a weekly basis.

Now we can see exactly how much we are spending and where we are spending it. This will make it much easier to target those areas we are over spending and begin budgeting our money.

Once we have a couple months of data in we will be able to develop a budget.

The best part is you can use all the fun reports, graphs and pie charts that QuickBooks offers to see where you stand at any point in time.