By Bobbi Burger Brunoehler of BobbisBargains.
alancleaver_2000/flickr
I welcome back to school supply sales because each year I run an arts and crafts tent at Children’s Day 2011 in Woodley Park, Los Angeles. This is an enormous free fair for families that tens of thousands of people attend. I expect to have around 7,000 craft projects made in my tent during the day.
That is a lot of craft supplies! I work all year to gather supplies at rock bottom prices from estate sales, clearance racks, and on freecycle.
Today when I entered Walmart and saw bins of deeply discounted school supplies I was really excited. I told my daughter, “Go grab a cart. We’re going shopping.”
The main items I wanted to get were glue sticks. I needed about 200. Walmart had packages of two sticks for 40 cents. Around the corner there were packages of 12 sticks of the exact same size and brand for $3.88.
tcoffey / Flickr
This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz.
Despite the denial of many kids and grown ups, back to school season is upon us. With school budgets shrinking, student supply lists are getting longer as teachers rely on families to equip the classroom. Can you believe some schools are requiring students to bring their own electronics?
Don’t fear, we’ve got a list of gadgets you’ll most likely need and tips on how to get a discount.
USB flash drives – There’s going to be a lot of typing in middle school and flash drives (aka thumb drives) are a cinch to use on different computers to allow your student to save his or her work and plug it into another computer later. You can now find thumb drives with cute designs like
orphanjones/Flickrp
This post is brought to you by Plumbing Q & A, where you can get all your plumbing questions answered.
When deciding whether to do a home improvement project yourself or hire someone, it’s useful to know how much money you earn in an hour. The April issue of Real Simple shares this two-part calculator.
Part 1 Income
Your monthly take-home income after taxes:
Add up all your costs associated with working.
Coffee runs with coworkers:
Commuting:
Clothing:
Dry cleaning:
Unreimbursed business meals:
Child care:
Subscriptions:
Business supplies:
Other:
Total work expenses:
Real monthly income (income minus work expenses):
Part 2 Hours
How many hours do you work in a month (40 hours per week times 4 weeks = 160 hours per month):
How many hours do you spend commuting (round trip commute x 20 days):
Additional hours spent on work (reading, continuing education, travel):
Total work hours:
Your hourly wage rate (real monthly income divided by total work hours):
Use your hourly rate to determine if it is a better idea to hire a professional or do the work yourself. But remember, just because hired help may be cheaper per hour than your hourly rate does not mean you have the money to spare!
Phillip/Flickr
This post is brought to you by Mint.com, a destination for budgeting software.
I’m slogging through my taxes and found these tax tips from CPA Steven Meyerson of JustAnswer.com to be super useful. Steven apparently gets a lot of the same questions year in year out because folks like you and me forget the most basic rules of tax preparation and filing. His tips:
Dealing with kids and marriages: If you’re married or divorced be sure that you and your spouse’s last names match all social security records, because your return will be rejected if they don’t. Also, if you’re divorced with children, be sure you know who’s claiming the kids. The rule is that whoever files first will initially get the credit and if it’s not the right person, correspondence with the IRS will be required by both parties to resolve the matter. To avoid that mess, it’s something you NEED to work out beforehand.
E-filing is the way to go: If you’re doing your taxes yourself, you should save yourself some time and money by e-filing using the IRS’s Free File program. The online form populates the numbers for you so you don’t have to worry about calculating the math. The other upside is that once you submit your return, you will receive your check earlier than if you had submitted it manually.
Use the correct forms: Make sure you use your W2 forms and not a recent pay stub – there is a huge difference.
Need an extension? Make sure you file it by April 15, unless you are living out of the country in which case you have until June 15 to file your return or file for an extension. Remember, extensions should include an approximation of the amount you owe, whether remitted or not. Failure to properly estimate your liability could lead to a rejection of your extension request and could result in late filing penalties.
Please Don’t Procrastinate: If you want your money earlier, you need to file your return earlier. The closer you file your return to the due date, the longer it will take for you to get it back.
And Don’t Pay Extra: Paying to get your return earlier is never worth it. Avoid anticipation loans or quick refunds because the cost isn’t worth having the funds a few day’s early.
Additionally, I found this IRS tax calculator to help you out over the next month. The post office has free hard copies of basic tax forms or you can get them online through the IRS.
