Did you ever buy something because it seemed like a great idea to help with organizing, not use it right away and forget about it?
Well, one of the places we go to in Pennsylvania is a farmer's market which is also a general merchandise/flea market. Most of the vendors are out doors, but there are some buildings with indoor vendors. For decades and decades there was an indoor vendor who sold tools and related items – he finally retired and sold his business to someone else. The new owner has expanded the type of items he sells and sells household items and office supplies (and I am sure I have mentioned – I love office supplies, used to play with them as a child and still think of them as FUN). He is buying at auctions and such so he has a big assortment of items. I always make sure to go through his office supply aisle carefully.
When going through his booth this past Friday I was suddenly reminded – a few years ago I had bought a package of tabs to put on hanging folders which one would print the name of the folders by running it the tabs through one's computer. (These are made by a well known label company.) I had completely forgotten about these labels. When we came home I checked and the package was exactly where it belonged – in the plastic stacking trays file holder next to where our printer had been (and our latest printer is) – this holds assorted items to run through the former copier, now printer next to where they are located. One problem I have been having with going through these hanging folders is that I could not keep track of which ones I have been through and which I have not – plus since the labels on them face forward and this is the bottom drawer of the file cabinet – and add that I wear eyeglasses so when I bend down to read the file labels – my eyeglasses swing out of line – if not off my face – I get confused and start going through folders I have finished with.
I started printing these new tabs for folders that I have been through – easy to read as name points upwards on the file folder and easy to see which files I have been through.
One of the folders I went through this past week held instruction manuals for large appliances in our house – air conditioners, refrigerator, dehumidifier, and similar. I put several instruction books into the recycle pile to get rid of them and then across one which was confusing.
It was a manual for an air conditioner (we have individual through the wall units in our house). It was dated as a June 2008 purchase. I looked up at the unit in the office – not that one. I knew we had just purchased a new air conditioner for our bedroom last year – this was not that unit, but it could be the one which was there before and had been removed. The air conditioner in the smallest bedroom (the one most of my teddy bears live in) dates back to the former owner, as does the one in our studio. It was not for a portable air conditioner, so that left out the one we normally used in the living room or dining room which died last year. Before that we had window unit in the living room, but that had come from our old apartment – and would have been purchased in the 1980s. Hmmm, There were pictures, but several different ones. Old bedroom a/c made the most sense. I asked husband if I was forgetting any air conditioners. I was – the one in his wood shop (garage). We were not sure what year we bought same. We were trying to figure it out – keep as from old bedroom unit or keep as from current garage unit? I suddenly had a flash of sense! I use Quicken for our financial records. I looked up 2008 and in July 2008 – I paid for the air conditioner we had replaced last year in our bedroom. So it was the one from the old bedroom unit and it went into the recycle pile.
It is amazing how much keeping good financial records (especially ones which can easily be searched) can help with general organization.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Keeping good financial records is important to do for many reasons, including one's income tax – figuring out which major item was purchases when or how much it cost is part of that.
How are YOUR financial records? There are many programs which help with keeping track of where your money goes. Using the computer to do so takes only seconds when you make a deposit or write a check. It helps at the end of the year when you do your income taxes as well as making a valid budget to follow in future years – what you spent last year can be looked at to figure out what you can/should spend in this or future years.
Showing posts with label Quicken. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Quicken. Show all posts
Thursday, July 29, 2021
A GOOD FINANCIAL RECORDS SET UP CAN HELP WITH OTHER ORGANZING ALSO - SUCH AS WHICH AIR CONDITIONER ARE THESE INSTRUCTIONS FOR AND DO WE STILL HAVE IT?
Thursday, June 4, 2020
COVID-19 #12 - DEALING WITH INCOMING MAIL WHEN ONE CAN'T GO TO POST OFFICE TO GET IT
So how is everyone holding up? Is your area coming out of having to stay home? Stores, parks, beaches, barber shops, beauty parlors, restaurants starting to open where you are?
If your area is opening up – are you going to be running out to go everywhere? Or do you feel it is not safe enough yet and maybe you should stay home awhile longer?
We tend towards the second choice. Since he bought all the food we have plenty to eat in the house – maybe for the rest of the year or longer. Okay, we have been thinking of looking for sales on Diet Coke 2 liter – presuming the store actually has some when they advertise it – as we are down to 3 full bottles and one almost empty one and have been drinking diet orange drink and diet grape drink alternating which one I mix – and he has iced tea for lunch. He likes the orange better and I like the grape better. Yes, we have lots of good water from our tap and drank water only for the first month – I finally had the idea to fill 2 quart plastic bottles and keep them in our refrigerator to keep the water cold for drinking(which are used for same in our RV when traveling so water cold on a hot day and water to drink is from home – as is the water in our water tanks in the RV). We have been drinking the Diet Coke very sparingly – not at all until I pointed out to him in early May that the best by date was May 18 – so we would not drink it so we did not finish it off – or we could drink it slowly before it got too old and the taste is gone.
One big problem we have had is mail – coming in and going out. In the late 1980s or early 1990s we opened up a box at a USPS office for our craft business. We lived in an apartment back then and did not want mail addressed to a business coming to our apartment. There was a Post Office about a block and a half from our apartment – but no boxes were available, so we went to the next nearest Post Office and opened the box there – where it still is. Our home is in close to where our apartment was, but is in a third community which shares a Post Office (and zip code) a different community and that Post Office is far from our house – further than the one near our old apartment (which is in fairly easy walking distance) and than the one where our businesses' box was. We started having problems with mail delivery to our house maybe 7 or 10 years ago and have changed the address on most of our personal mail which used to come to our house to the box, as well as the mail that I receive as Treasurer of both my embroidery club and our reenactment unit. In normal times we basically went to the Post Office where our box is every day Monday to Friday to check for incoming mail and mail outgoing mail. If we went on a trip we could put a hold on the mail in the box. If we needed something delivered – it has been sent to the box and was inside the Post Office and safe. This system worked great. Today I am talking about the problem with the mail coming in to us.
The last two Sundays in March we went to the Post Office late Sunday night (forgive me if I repeating myself here) and picked up the mail for the entire week and mailed the outgoing mail for the week. I had figured out that since this Post Office closed on Saturdays at 1pm and was not open on Sundays – there were the fewest people in it for the longest time at that point and would have the least chance of us catching the corona virus then. Unfortunately our local paper started publishing the number of people who were ill by community and the community that Post Office and the Wendys we normally went to for daily lunch – are in had rather a high count of people who were ill and husband decided we should not go there for some time.
So – all our mail was nice and safe in our Post Office box – but we had no access to it! Aha!! Have the mail what I called forwarded and the Post Office calls “Temporary change of address”. I went online and set the mail up to be sent to us – since I did it online it cost $1.05 by credit card for verification that we are the box owners. We were only able to enter the name of our craft business – the name the box is in - as it is a “business” box. The wording implied that all mail would be sent to us and we were then responsible to forward it to those who it was addressed to - great, they are all us.
We waited for the forwarded mail to come. I had called and checked the second day of the forwarding to make sure that the Post Office had received the paperwork and they had. We kept waiting – it should take 7-10 days for each item to reach us from the Post Office – after 2 weeks of no mail I called. Since it is a “business” box only mail in the name of the business can be forwarded (okay, most months a bank statement and a credit card statement – and we are not currently using the latter). The woman I spoke with was very nice and offered to mail the accumulated mail in an envelope to us to give us a chance to figure it out. I had hoped we would be going again in a week or two and thanked her profusely. I did go online and change the mailing address for the two main magazines I get to come straight here. I also emailed the members of my embroidery group and told them to only mail things – such as the dues I was collecting in April and May for end of May annual renewal – to me at home and not at the box and did the same with my accounting clients for anything they would need to mail to me. Husband did the same with the members of our reenacting unit.
Two weeks later – same problem. I called again and offered to pay for the mail be mailed to us again – she said she would do so at no charge. I made a third call – this time waiting over 3 weeks and again she was able to mail us the mail. Then it was 3 weeks again – this time I asked her if there was some way to - without having to go into the Post Office – there was some way to close the box in the business name and reopen it immediately in one of our names – even if we had pay the annual fee again. This started a multi-day discussion involving her, two other employees at the Post Office and the Postmaster. What they finally worked out is for them to change the name on the box and change it from business to personal. It would take a couple of weeks – at that point – 2 weeks no problem. They have mailed us our mail twice since then. I was suppose to call yesterday and check how it was coming – but ran out of time. Today I was going to call – but I was called and it suppose to all be changed and all the mail set up to be forwarded – we will know for sure in about in a week – and the accumulated mail is again being mailed to us.
Since I use a Quicken to keep track of our finances I had the advantage of having all the bills we pay being memorized with the day of the month I normally sent out the payment (such as a bill due 30th of the month – would be dated to be written on 23rd of the month) and it repeats monthly, quarterly, or annually – bi-monthly I have to adjust myself and have bills due same set as monthly as change the date due – I knew I would not miss paying any bills. I also figured that bank statements can always be reconciled after the fact. It was the unexpected item that I was concerned about – luckily there have not been any surprises. When a bill will be do I call and, generally by computer on their end, check the balance due – if any – and due date. If I do not have the bill I write a cover letter giving the name on the account, account number, amount I am paying and the check number and letting them know that I am doing this as I can't get to the Post Office to pick up mail.
Hopefully we will be getting the mail forwarded and all will even off – of course we are depending on the same Post Office that we were having trouble with to deliver the mail from the box to us when it is forwarded, but the mail carrier has been doing well so far with the mail when it comes from the the Box, as well mail which does come here.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Sometimes what seems like the perfect thing to do – is no longer good at all when the situation changes. One has to figure out what to do, to make things work as needed. It sometimes takes a bit of creative thinking to do this.
Plus – we should be grateful for our Post Office employees who are doing their best to help us keep getting our mail despite the health risks to them (next time you lick an envelope to seal it – remembering people will be touching that envelope and many others and risk getting ill from them. They are making sure we have bills so we can timely pay them, checks so we have the money to pay the bills, plus the cards, photos and letters (yes, people still mail send same) that are sent to us by loved ones and friends. (I just found out that my mom does not have to go out of her apartment and downstairs to the mail boxes to get her mail – it is being brought to her – I am going to mail her some “cute” photos of my Teddy bear village under the stay home at order – the summer setup also when I get it set up later this month – I hope the photos make her smile.)
Please all stay well and return next week for the problems sending mail out we have had.
If your area is opening up – are you going to be running out to go everywhere? Or do you feel it is not safe enough yet and maybe you should stay home awhile longer?
We tend towards the second choice. Since he bought all the food we have plenty to eat in the house – maybe for the rest of the year or longer. Okay, we have been thinking of looking for sales on Diet Coke 2 liter – presuming the store actually has some when they advertise it – as we are down to 3 full bottles and one almost empty one and have been drinking diet orange drink and diet grape drink alternating which one I mix – and he has iced tea for lunch. He likes the orange better and I like the grape better. Yes, we have lots of good water from our tap and drank water only for the first month – I finally had the idea to fill 2 quart plastic bottles and keep them in our refrigerator to keep the water cold for drinking(which are used for same in our RV when traveling so water cold on a hot day and water to drink is from home – as is the water in our water tanks in the RV). We have been drinking the Diet Coke very sparingly – not at all until I pointed out to him in early May that the best by date was May 18 – so we would not drink it so we did not finish it off – or we could drink it slowly before it got too old and the taste is gone.
One big problem we have had is mail – coming in and going out. In the late 1980s or early 1990s we opened up a box at a USPS office for our craft business. We lived in an apartment back then and did not want mail addressed to a business coming to our apartment. There was a Post Office about a block and a half from our apartment – but no boxes were available, so we went to the next nearest Post Office and opened the box there – where it still is. Our home is in close to where our apartment was, but is in a third community which shares a Post Office (and zip code) a different community and that Post Office is far from our house – further than the one near our old apartment (which is in fairly easy walking distance) and than the one where our businesses' box was. We started having problems with mail delivery to our house maybe 7 or 10 years ago and have changed the address on most of our personal mail which used to come to our house to the box, as well as the mail that I receive as Treasurer of both my embroidery club and our reenactment unit. In normal times we basically went to the Post Office where our box is every day Monday to Friday to check for incoming mail and mail outgoing mail. If we went on a trip we could put a hold on the mail in the box. If we needed something delivered – it has been sent to the box and was inside the Post Office and safe. This system worked great. Today I am talking about the problem with the mail coming in to us.
The last two Sundays in March we went to the Post Office late Sunday night (forgive me if I repeating myself here) and picked up the mail for the entire week and mailed the outgoing mail for the week. I had figured out that since this Post Office closed on Saturdays at 1pm and was not open on Sundays – there were the fewest people in it for the longest time at that point and would have the least chance of us catching the corona virus then. Unfortunately our local paper started publishing the number of people who were ill by community and the community that Post Office and the Wendys we normally went to for daily lunch – are in had rather a high count of people who were ill and husband decided we should not go there for some time.
So – all our mail was nice and safe in our Post Office box – but we had no access to it! Aha!! Have the mail what I called forwarded and the Post Office calls “Temporary change of address”. I went online and set the mail up to be sent to us – since I did it online it cost $1.05 by credit card for verification that we are the box owners. We were only able to enter the name of our craft business – the name the box is in - as it is a “business” box. The wording implied that all mail would be sent to us and we were then responsible to forward it to those who it was addressed to - great, they are all us.
We waited for the forwarded mail to come. I had called and checked the second day of the forwarding to make sure that the Post Office had received the paperwork and they had. We kept waiting – it should take 7-10 days for each item to reach us from the Post Office – after 2 weeks of no mail I called. Since it is a “business” box only mail in the name of the business can be forwarded (okay, most months a bank statement and a credit card statement – and we are not currently using the latter). The woman I spoke with was very nice and offered to mail the accumulated mail in an envelope to us to give us a chance to figure it out. I had hoped we would be going again in a week or two and thanked her profusely. I did go online and change the mailing address for the two main magazines I get to come straight here. I also emailed the members of my embroidery group and told them to only mail things – such as the dues I was collecting in April and May for end of May annual renewal – to me at home and not at the box and did the same with my accounting clients for anything they would need to mail to me. Husband did the same with the members of our reenacting unit.
Two weeks later – same problem. I called again and offered to pay for the mail be mailed to us again – she said she would do so at no charge. I made a third call – this time waiting over 3 weeks and again she was able to mail us the mail. Then it was 3 weeks again – this time I asked her if there was some way to - without having to go into the Post Office – there was some way to close the box in the business name and reopen it immediately in one of our names – even if we had pay the annual fee again. This started a multi-day discussion involving her, two other employees at the Post Office and the Postmaster. What they finally worked out is for them to change the name on the box and change it from business to personal. It would take a couple of weeks – at that point – 2 weeks no problem. They have mailed us our mail twice since then. I was suppose to call yesterday and check how it was coming – but ran out of time. Today I was going to call – but I was called and it suppose to all be changed and all the mail set up to be forwarded – we will know for sure in about in a week – and the accumulated mail is again being mailed to us.
Since I use a Quicken to keep track of our finances I had the advantage of having all the bills we pay being memorized with the day of the month I normally sent out the payment (such as a bill due 30th of the month – would be dated to be written on 23rd of the month) and it repeats monthly, quarterly, or annually – bi-monthly I have to adjust myself and have bills due same set as monthly as change the date due – I knew I would not miss paying any bills. I also figured that bank statements can always be reconciled after the fact. It was the unexpected item that I was concerned about – luckily there have not been any surprises. When a bill will be do I call and, generally by computer on their end, check the balance due – if any – and due date. If I do not have the bill I write a cover letter giving the name on the account, account number, amount I am paying and the check number and letting them know that I am doing this as I can't get to the Post Office to pick up mail.
Hopefully we will be getting the mail forwarded and all will even off – of course we are depending on the same Post Office that we were having trouble with to deliver the mail from the box to us when it is forwarded, but the mail carrier has been doing well so far with the mail when it comes from the the Box, as well mail which does come here.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Sometimes what seems like the perfect thing to do – is no longer good at all when the situation changes. One has to figure out what to do, to make things work as needed. It sometimes takes a bit of creative thinking to do this.
Plus – we should be grateful for our Post Office employees who are doing their best to help us keep getting our mail despite the health risks to them (next time you lick an envelope to seal it – remembering people will be touching that envelope and many others and risk getting ill from them. They are making sure we have bills so we can timely pay them, checks so we have the money to pay the bills, plus the cards, photos and letters (yes, people still mail send same) that are sent to us by loved ones and friends. (I just found out that my mom does not have to go out of her apartment and downstairs to the mail boxes to get her mail – it is being brought to her – I am going to mail her some “cute” photos of my Teddy bear village under the stay home at order – the summer setup also when I get it set up later this month – I hope the photos make her smile.)
Please all stay well and return next week for the problems sending mail out we have had.
Thursday, January 30, 2020
ARE YOUR FINANCES - CHECKING ACCOUNT - UNDER CONTROL?
Boy has my financial juggling gone astray today! We live on limited income from a variety of sources and sometimes we have a timing problem (bills due out this week, money coming coming in next week type of thing). As an accountant I am pretty good at this juggling.
I had it all planned out. We have dividends coming in on Monday which would cover almost all of our bills due out in the next week – except our RV payment and that is due out this week. I knew that later in February we would need to take money out of husband's IRA to cover our car insurance, but had time until same.
Well, the money to cover the RV payment was to come from the monthly client I have and she pays me quarterly when I go and do her books, etc. and I was due for a check in January. I tried to go to her last week, but when I called on Monday she was going to the doctor on Tuesday and did not expect to come into her place of business on Wednesday or Thursday either – maybe Friday she suggested? Friday it actually was suppose to be nice weather here and in Pennsylvania and husband was ready to go to Pennsylvania for the day and I could not disappoint him – who knows when the weather would be right in both places again as it has been so long since they were.
So I said that I would be in this week. I telephoned her on Monday to go yesterday, Tuesday, but she still was not feeling well so today, Wednesday it had to be. In addition to needing to do her bank rec, payroll taxes have to be filed by the end of January so I had to go there now! I was glad that weather stayed nice and no snow or rain.
I planned last night to deal with my problem – I wrote out a deposit slip for her check. I checked where branches of our bank are near her. I checked where a post office was near her. My plan was that when I finished doing her books I would take the check from her, deposit and mail out the RV payment.
When I got there she had a bad month and not only could not pay me, she could not pay her rent either. I did her books. I had her sign her payroll tax forms. I dealt with a couple of problems she had which are not related to what I am suppose to do, but I do things for her – she is in her 80s.
Well, I have my check – but cannot deposit it until she calls and says okay. I need to get that RV check out tomorrow, so we will have to go and take the money out of husband's IRA now and hope that she says I can cash check when the bills that were to be paid later in February with the IRA money come due. Just when I think I have it all taken care of….
I am sure that all of you have had similar problems. The important thing to do is keep track of it all – accurately so that nothing bounces – and if there is that rare occasion that something goes wrong and it does bounce – both the bank and who you paid will look at your records and say “hey, this never happens with you – of course we understand and will waive the fees for the bounced check/late payment”. (Yes, I did mess up badly once a few years ago and the fees were waived by both by the bank for the bounced check and by the company I had paid with the check as our record was so good that they could excuse the one error.)
To help keep my records accurate I use a software program to help me – Quickbooks (Quicken it's non- business alternative is good also). I keep my checkbook by hand and also in the program – and the two of them better agree or I have a problem to look for. The software lets me memorize the payments and when they are do and will remind me when I open it what bills need to be paid and what money should be coming in. It also lets me keep my personal expenses separate from our various businesses and each of them separate from the others. Lets me set up accounts for our tax related expenses and income to keep track of them for the taxes when they filed the following year.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK – Now is the time to get started so that next tax season will easier for you to deal with your income taxes (presuming that you are in the US and need to do so). It is also a good time to start keeping better financial records in general as we all need to do same and it is easier to start with the start of a year than in the middle of it.
I had it all planned out. We have dividends coming in on Monday which would cover almost all of our bills due out in the next week – except our RV payment and that is due out this week. I knew that later in February we would need to take money out of husband's IRA to cover our car insurance, but had time until same.
Well, the money to cover the RV payment was to come from the monthly client I have and she pays me quarterly when I go and do her books, etc. and I was due for a check in January. I tried to go to her last week, but when I called on Monday she was going to the doctor on Tuesday and did not expect to come into her place of business on Wednesday or Thursday either – maybe Friday she suggested? Friday it actually was suppose to be nice weather here and in Pennsylvania and husband was ready to go to Pennsylvania for the day and I could not disappoint him – who knows when the weather would be right in both places again as it has been so long since they were.
So I said that I would be in this week. I telephoned her on Monday to go yesterday, Tuesday, but she still was not feeling well so today, Wednesday it had to be. In addition to needing to do her bank rec, payroll taxes have to be filed by the end of January so I had to go there now! I was glad that weather stayed nice and no snow or rain.
I planned last night to deal with my problem – I wrote out a deposit slip for her check. I checked where branches of our bank are near her. I checked where a post office was near her. My plan was that when I finished doing her books I would take the check from her, deposit and mail out the RV payment.
When I got there she had a bad month and not only could not pay me, she could not pay her rent either. I did her books. I had her sign her payroll tax forms. I dealt with a couple of problems she had which are not related to what I am suppose to do, but I do things for her – she is in her 80s.
Well, I have my check – but cannot deposit it until she calls and says okay. I need to get that RV check out tomorrow, so we will have to go and take the money out of husband's IRA now and hope that she says I can cash check when the bills that were to be paid later in February with the IRA money come due. Just when I think I have it all taken care of….
I am sure that all of you have had similar problems. The important thing to do is keep track of it all – accurately so that nothing bounces – and if there is that rare occasion that something goes wrong and it does bounce – both the bank and who you paid will look at your records and say “hey, this never happens with you – of course we understand and will waive the fees for the bounced check/late payment”. (Yes, I did mess up badly once a few years ago and the fees were waived by both by the bank for the bounced check and by the company I had paid with the check as our record was so good that they could excuse the one error.)
To help keep my records accurate I use a software program to help me – Quickbooks (Quicken it's non- business alternative is good also). I keep my checkbook by hand and also in the program – and the two of them better agree or I have a problem to look for. The software lets me memorize the payments and when they are do and will remind me when I open it what bills need to be paid and what money should be coming in. It also lets me keep my personal expenses separate from our various businesses and each of them separate from the others. Lets me set up accounts for our tax related expenses and income to keep track of them for the taxes when they filed the following year.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK – Now is the time to get started so that next tax season will easier for you to deal with your income taxes (presuming that you are in the US and need to do so). It is also a good time to start keeping better financial records in general as we all need to do same and it is easier to start with the start of a year than in the middle of it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)