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Archives for February 2009

Is Frugal Normal?

February 25, 2009 By Shane Ede 2 Comments

Do you think that being a Frugaler is normal?  It obviously is a bit abnormal in the American society.  Although, with recent economic news, I think that it’s becoming more popular.  But normal?  I really don’t think so.

Sometimes, we look at the world through the personal finance bloggers perspective.  We see all the other personal finance bloggers we know and read and we get used to thinking that those people, along with ourselves, are the norm.  In essence, we are missing the forest for the trees.  Being a Frugaler is far from normal.

Every day, we Frugalers, task ourselves with finding new and exciting (well, maybe not exciting) ways to spend less money.  At the same time, we try and find ways to make more money.  We hope that the net effect is that we not only have money to pay the bills, but that we have some to save for a rainy day and, maybe, even retirement.  We daren’t say it, but some of us even think about “early” retirement.  And, if you peer no farther than our little realm of the blogosphere, you would think that the whole country does nothing but count pennies and do personal accounting.

I don’t think you would find too many PF bloggers who would argue against more people becoming Frugalers.  In fact, that is the purpose of a vast majority of the PF blogs that exist.  On any given day, you’ll find articles on “best way(s) to save on groceries”, “way(s) to cut utility bills”, and the list goes on.  We exist to talk, share, and teach this stuff.

Being a Frugaler may not be normal, but we’re working on it.

Shane Ede

Shane Ede is a business teacher and personal finance blogger.  He holds dual Bachelors degrees in education and computer sciences, as well as a Masters Degree in educational technology.  Shane is passionate about personal finance, literacy and helping others master their money.  When he isn’t enjoying live music, Shane likes spending time with family, barbeque and meteorology.

www.beatingbroke.com

Filed Under: Frugality, Saving, ShareMe Tagged With: blogging, frugal, frugaler, Frugality, save, Saving

Taxes Done?

February 13, 2009 By Shane Ede Leave a Comment

Have you done your taxes?  Or at least dropped them off at the accountant?  For the last several years, I’ve done my own taxes online.  There are several places you can go.  I use TaxAct.com, but I know people who’ve used the others like Turbo Tax.

In any case, I managed to get mine all finished up last week and filed them all.  Last year, I ended up short and needed to pay in so I waited until much later to file so I could hold on to my money a little longer.  This year, I made a few changes to my W-4, and as a result, ended up with a small return coming my way.  And there’s no reason to not file if they owe you money.

North Dakota was amazingly fast with the refund.  I got it back on Wednesday.  I filed on the previous Thursday.  Less than 4 business days to go from my computer to the state and back to my account.  And a EFT deposit takes at least a day from start to stop, so they had to have initiated the transfer on Tuesday.  Less than three days process time.  Very nice.  Of course, I haven’t really heard much from the Feds, so not sure if I’ll be seeing that back anytime soon or not.  I’m sure they’re a little more swamped than the state is, but you’d think they’d have a bit higher capacity too.

How about you?  Taxes done? Did you get a refund or did Uncle Sam drain you a little drier?

Shane Ede

Shane Ede is a business teacher and personal finance blogger.  He holds dual Bachelors degrees in education and computer sciences, as well as a Masters Degree in educational technology.  Shane is passionate about personal finance, literacy and helping others master their money.  When he isn’t enjoying live music, Shane likes spending time with family, barbeque and meteorology.

www.beatingbroke.com

Filed Under: Taxes Tagged With: federal taxes, income taxes, north dakota taxes, state taxes, Taxes

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