No More Late Fees

By: Michelle

You can easily nickle and dime yourself to death by committing small no-no's during the month, but these pesky little problems are much more pronounced when you get smacked with a big-old late payment charge. There are so many resources out there that you can take advantage of, not only avoid these fees, but in some cases, to save money!

A lot of companies have direct withdrawal that you can set up that pulls money right out of your checking account on a specific day of the month. These are not only valuable for the obvious reason of not having to remember what day you need to send a check, but many times, these companies offer you discounts off of your monthly bill just for signing up! One thing to remember, however, is that you should always be checking your account for incorrect information. As much as I love direct withdrawals for their convience, I still do not completely trust every company (or any company for that matter). There are some companies that I have been working with for a long time (Verizon, State Farm, ect.) that I have never had a problem with, but once I have a problem, I yank that service, and I go to my plan B resource: bill-pay.

First, I must say that I am not particularly fond of big banks. However, they do offer some great products that I am not quite sure how I would live without! One of these products is automatic bill-pay. US Bank has a great system that is 100% FREE! All I have to do is type in the name of the payee, their address, my account number with them, and how much I would like to pay, and they send off a check to them by the date I specify. You can set up recurring bills, or just one-time payments! Did I mention that you save A TON of money by not having to buy checks? The only check I actually hand-write anymore is for our housing.

My Our advice to you is to get as many of your bills signed up for these services as you can! Doing this will mean that you will never have a late-payment again, and more importantly, no late-charges! If you ask us, there is nothing worse than paying more than you have to!

Since you have figured out all of you recurring bills (you have, haven't you?), your homework today will be easy! Go through your payments, and get them all set up for either automatic withdrawal (through the companies website, or over the phone), or through your bank's automatic bill-pay.

Enjoy your day!!!


If you are having immediate problems with money, send us an email at m.myselfinc@yahoo.com, and we will answer any and all question that we can, and if we are unable to answer your questions we will most certainly point you in the direction of someone who can! All emails are completely confidential.

Special thanks to...
Etsy

You might also like...
Introduction to Budgeting
TGIF: Money Edition
Organizing Recurring Bills

Under Pressure...

Yes... I am! With my LSAT in just 6 days, I am dealing with a debilitating amount of stress! For those of you who may be feeling the pressure, here are some sure-fire ways to relieve your stress:

1. Take a bath- This always does the trick for me! I enjoy low light, some calming music, and bubbles.

2. Engage in some light exercise- I either choose between a walk around the neighborhood, or if the weather is not cooperating, some light Yoga or Pilates.

3. Eat a bowl of raw fruit or veggies- This always boosts my energy as well as my mood! Raw food is rich in so many vitamins and nutrients that your body can really benefit from when you are stressed out. Not to mention, we all know that your body tends to store fat when you are stressed, so feed your body healthy fat when you are feeling especially pressured to avoid excessive weight-gain!

4. Get a full eight hours- Although it has been really temping to cut out some sleep-time as my study pressures have increased, I know that it is the biggest mistake I can make. You become less productive as your exhaustion increases.

5. Surround yourself with positive people- This has been my saving grace throughout my test-prep. My husband has been so great! He always says things like "you are going to do so great on that test," and he constantly corrects my attitude when I am being negative.

6. Remember: This Too Shall Pass- My dad told me this when I was young, and it has stuck with me all these years. There is a light at the end of every tunnel, sometimes you cannot see it just yet, but have hope knowing that it is always there.

Enjoy your day!

-M

Special thanks to...
A Day to Cherish
Timberline Knolls
Forestya
Sleep n' Beauty
Allie-Panda
All Great Quotes

Organizing Recurring Bills

Do you have enough money coming in to cover your immediate bills? These include: food, shelter, basic clothing, transportation, and utilities? What about the rest of your bills? Credit cards, car payments, student loans, cash advances? Do you have extra money when you are finished paying all of these? Exactly how much extra money? Where will that money go in the short-term? Long-term? You should be able to answer every one of these questions with complete certainty. If you cannot, don't worry, Cole and I were in the same boat not long ago; we will show you how we changed our ways. If it can work for us, it can work for anyone!

As I have mentioned before, this is one of many posts that will be dedicated to the subject of budgeting. In the beginning, it will seem like a lot of work, but we promise that it will get much easier! We are going to break down this task into small, manageable steps throughout this series! Let's get started:

Today, we will focus on the recurring bills. Gather all of these, such as housing, utilities, insurance, any debt (credit cards, car payments, ect), entertainment (Netflix, Hulu, ect), really anything that you have to pay monthly or semi-monthly. Write (or type) all of these down on ONE sheet of paper along with the amount, and the date on which they need to be paid. Be as fancy/creative, or as basic as you want. The whole point of this is that you want all of your bills to be in one place, no scattered throughout a filing cabinet, or worse, throughout the whole house. I must add, not to be morbid, but if you have a spouse, partner, family member, ect. that would need to have access to this information if something were to keep you from paying these, make sure they are aware of where this list can be found.

Now you can see who you need to pay, how much you need to pay them, and when the payments are due. Look at you! This is the first step to budgeting. This amount of money needs to be set aside each month to ensure that all of your bills get paid!

If you do not have the amount coming in, don't panic just yet. You have been making it somehow, so continue forward for now, and we will offer more suggestions as we continue. The most important things to make sure you have money for are the basics: food, shelter, basic clothing, basic transportation, and utilities. We will have an entire post dedicated for food budgeting coming up, so stay-tuned for that one, it will be awesome!

That is your budgeting homework for the night, so snap to it and we will have more for you tomorrow!

Enjoy your day,

M & Cole

If you are having immediate problems with money, send us an email at m.myselfinc@yahoo.com, and we will answer any and all question that we can, and if we are unable to answer your questions we will most certainly point you in the direction of someone who can! All emails are completely confidential.

Special thanks to...
Clutter Coach
Stuff About Money

You might also like...
Introduction to Budgeting
TGIF: Money Edition

TGIF

I plan on sticking with the theme of budgeting for this TGIF rant, so today I am going to talk about the importance of having a dream for your money. You could say that this is somewhat like goal-setting, but I plan on having a separate post dedicated just to goals because it is such a huge part of saving money. Dreaming, on the other hand, is a step that is hugely important before you jump into a budget. Why? Because you must know, in your heart, why you want to do this. Do you want to adopt a child? Do you want to buy a car with cash? Do you want to pay off your mortgage? What about your kids? Do you dream about having a fully-funded college fund for them by the time they are ready to attend? And what about charity? Do you want to contribute to a school being built, a scholarship for under-privileged kids, a family dealing with the effects of a ill child? Let's talk about debt: can you imagine how good it would feel to have NO payments? No credit cards, no car payments, no mortgage? WOW! That would be pretty amazing! All that money that comes into your household would be yours, not Chase's, not U.S. Bank's, not American Express's... YOURS! What would you do with your money if it were actually YOURS? Would you retire early? Would you travel the world? Would you buy a boat, or a motorcycle, or a beach-house? You need to keep these things in mind as you make the sacrifices early on, and you make these sacrifices so that one day, you can achieve your dreams.

Cole and I thought it would be good for us to share some of our dreams with all of you!

1. Be DEBT FREE!!!
      -Buy all vehicles with cash (and get a rockin' deal on them due to the bargaining power of cash)
      -Buy our first house with cash (no mortgage for us)
2. Adopt our child and have the means to send them to college
3. Have the means for Cole to have a small home-based motorcycle business
4. Have the means to care for our parents in their old age
4. Have the means to retire very comfortably

These are some hefty dreams, we know! But we are prepared to make, and are already making, big sacrifices now, so that we can achieve ALL of these. I will go over our dreams again in the goal-setting segment, and I will show you how we have made our 5, 10, and 20 year plans to get there!

via: http://homebasedbusiness.escapeartist.com

What are your dreams?

Introduction to Budgeting

Budgeting is a concept that has almost become extinct, especially in our (Cole and M's) generation. People have a basic grasp on where their money is going, and about how much they have, but a few decades ago, people knew exactly how much money they had at any given time, even without having to check their online banking accounts (and not just because they didn't exist)! It is SO important, especially with the rising debt per capita levels in the United States, that we get control of our money, and stop letting our money control us. It is safe to say that saving is something that is not often done, much less done well. Getting control over your budget will allow you to see exactly how much money you have to save, spend, and give. This is something that has absolutely changed our lives and our marriage! During the next couple weeks, we (yes, Cole has agreed to work with me on this project) will lay out what has worked for us. We by no means claim to be experts, we're just people that have been through it (the good and the bad), and we are proud of what we have accomplished (and that we survived). We encourage you to ask any questions that you may have, because we want YOU to succeed and prosper, just as we have! You can leave comments or email us at m.myselfinc@yahoo.com, and we will get back to you as quick as we can. We know that money can be a difficult thing to talk about, so remember that you can leave anonymous comments if that is what you prefer!

via: http://aspanational.wordpress.com

 This is not just a change in the way you make your money work for you, but it is also a change in behavior as well as a change in lifestyle. You REALLY need to want this for it to work best, but we promise that it will offer you more freedom than you have ever had before! You might be saying: “Freedom and budgeting? I don’t get it,” but trust us, it will be freeing! At some point next week we will do an interview on how this has worked for us (we are not exactly sure when yet because we are debating a video interview which is completely new to us). During this you will see that Cole was extremely reluctant to do this “budget thing,” and you will get his testimony on what he thinks about it now! You will see how we learned to work together, and sometimes failed to do so, and you will also get our take on how frustrating it was in the beginning, our own difficulties with sticking to it, and how we streamlined our methods. Definitely stay-tuned for that one, we will be brutally honest!

Via: http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com

All we are hoping to accomplish with this is to help people that we care about become empowered with regards to their money. It DOES make the world go ‘round, so the more you know, the better off you are!

via: http://leftwingnutjob.net

Enjoy your day!

-M & C

Coming up on Myself Incorporated!

There are some exciting things that will be coming up during the next few weeks, and I wanted to let you all know about them, and hopefully get some feedback as to how I can make this better, and more accessible for all of you!

Here is what's coming up:

1. Budgeting- This has been something highly requested, that I have been a little reluctant to post about for two reasons: one, it is, although simple, quite a large topic, and I was unsure of how to break it up into separate posts; and two, I didn't want to be too personal as to give away some confidential information about our financial lives, but I knew that it had to be somewhat personal because I am not speaking from an expert's viewpoint, we are just people that did our research and made budgeting work for us! Although I am on some shaky ground, I am very excited about sharing our knowledge to, hopefully, benefit all of you! And keep in mind, I think EVERYONE can benefit from this: female and male, young and old, ect. Keep an eye out for these!
 

TRUE! via: ucreated.me

2. Day in the Life post- you will be able to see what goes into a day orchestrated by me! I am almost a little scared to see how busy I am, but I am hoping I will be able to look back and laugh one day! I will be COMPLETELY honest with this post, to show both the good/organized side of me, as well as the bad/chaotic side!

I HAD TO! ;) via: silencenogood.net

3. Method my Madness: Organizing your schedule- I am very excited to write this post! People have asked me over-and-over again (since I posted a picture of my planner here) how I plan out my schedule! Keep an eye out for this one!

 3. Three new tabs: Food, Money, and Pep-Talks- I have had several comments about how it is difficult to navigate around my page, so I will make it easier by posting the recipes I try by category, along with a short blurb about what it is, why I like it, and a picture of the finished dish. I will also have a tab dedicated to money, where my budgeting posts will live, as well as any other money-related posts. Finally, I will have a tab titled Pep-Talks, where I will display inspirational quotes, my TGIF rants, and anything that may give someone some motivation through a hard time, a moment of weakness, and/or a dance with procrastination.

I would LOVE some feedback! Tell me what you know, what you think is important, and what you want to see! Give me encouragement and/or criticism! You can either leave a comment below or email me at m.myselfinc@yahoo.com, and please keep in mind that you can always post anonymously, so not even I will know where the comment came from! Also, I approve all comments before they are posted, so if you want to comment, but don't want me to post it on the page, just write that into your comment!

Enjoy your day!

-M

Cookin' with Laura: Spicy Roasted Potato Fries

Want awesome fries that aren't fried? Stick to your diet and indulge in these amazing creations by my kitchen savior Laura Vitale! These are so amazing, way better than fries that restaurants sell with their burgers! It is more like fish and chips style! Mmmmmmmmm! So let's get to it, shall we?

As always, you can watch Laura make this recipe here!

Ingredients:
6 Large Russet Potatoes
1 Tbsp of Chili Powder
1 Tbsp of Ground Garlic Powder
2 tsp of Granulated Onion
2 tsp of Italian Seasoning
1 tsp of Paprika
4 Tbsp of Olive Oil or Canola Oil
Salt and Pepper, to taste

Process:

1) Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Line two baking sheets with aluminum foil and place them in the oven as it preheats so that the baking sheets will be preheated as well.

Her steps 2 and 3 involve a microwave, and since I am on a one-woman mission to put the microwave market out of business, we decided to make a variation: Just cut the fries into long, somewhat thin strips (see below picture) and they will have no problem cooking through in the oven! ;)

I am such a lucky lady to have such a great husband! Thanks for helping Cole!

4) In a large bowl, mix together all the spices with the olive oil, add the potatoes and toss everything together to coat.

5) Divide the potatoes on the hot baking sheets, making sure that they are all in one layer. Pop them in the oven and roast them for about 20-25 minutes or until crispy.

6) Check on them and rotate the baking sheets around if you feel like they are coloring too soon on one side and not the other.

Sooooo yummy! These are pictured with some mushroom, cherry tomato, and feta bruschetta!

These are so easy and flavorful that you don't even need a dipping sauce! Make sure you serve them immediately, because like any batch of fries, they just don't have the same crispiness after they have sat for a while! Please make these, you won't be disappointed!

Enjoy your day!

-M

Movie and Margarita Monday

Here we go!

This week's movie:

Michelle's Rating: 7/10

Cole's Rating: 8/10
Check out what others think at IMDb

This movie is based off of an English comic (thanks to Cole for that information), so you can imagine that it is full of action and adventure. We thought this movie definitely served it purpose and had a great story line to boot! The 3D was not over-whelming like in a lot of recent 3D films, which is a major plus in our book. All in all, we recommend that if you enjoy action films with a decent amount of violence, then this is probably a movie you should check out, but if you have a hard time with blood and other bodily harm, you should skip this one!

This week's margaritas: 

If you want to make these delicious homemade margaritas for yourself, you can learn how here!

Enjoy your day!

-M

All movie titles, pictures, etc... are registered trademarks and/or copyrights of their respective holders.

Fashion Trends I'm Lovin'

 So there is a lot of fashion trends that I have been seeing lately that I just think are completely absurd (like the weird cut-off mom jean-shorts... where did they come from???) but I have also been seeing a few trends that are very cute! Here is what I am lovin' at the moment:

1. Lacy Shorts- I think these are just sooooo cute! They have a kind of vintage flare to them, while still being a perfect combination of formal, playful, and sexy! I am drooling a little!

via: http://blog.netrobe.com

2. Layered bracelets- I am trying to work this in more when I pick out my outfits. I just think it is such a wonderful way to accessorize!

via: http://blog.shopbop.com

 3. Sheer Maxi Skirts- I have seen these a lot at Loyola, and they just seem so care-free! I pretty much love anything that has a decent amount of movement, and these skirts have a lot of it! You can get these in any color and texture you can think of, and if you are having trouble finding exactly what you want, why not make your own? You can see how to do just that here.

via: http://hypeed.com

via: http://theamarillohairsalon.com

4. Bulky Ribbon Necklaces- I am not sure if these are a new trend, but I think they are just BEAU-tiful! I really want to try to make my own!

I found this one in an art store, and I can't wait to DIY one!

You can purchase this beauty for only $27 here!

Enjoy your day!

-M

New Addition: The Grown-Up Bag

So I have been carrying around the same bag since high school, and it has definitely seen better days (and better time-periods), so I had begun debating getting a new bag for the last three or so months. Well, my poor little bag ended up passing on before I got the chance became motivated enough to buy a new one. Here is a look at her before her funeral (and keep in mind that this is a little embarrassing):

Yeah, I know... Mustangs... And that, there at the bottom, is permanent dirt stains, not a shadow...

Some battle wounds

Hanging on by threads... Literally!

And the cause of death: broken strap

 So now that we are done with that, let me introduce my new bag (the not so embarrassing part)! I needed something budget friendly (as I had not planned on buying a new bag yet, so I didn't save up for one), and a little LOT more grown-up! I looked around in a couple stores, but the internet is a much more efficient, and cost-effective method. After searching around for a couple days, I finally found this beauty at only $17.99 (you can view it here). Two things before you see her: one, she is a little smaller than I thought she was going to be, but this didn't bother me much because I am very small-framed, and I don't carry around a lot of stuff (not even my laptop, I normally take the iPad if I am in need of electronics), and two, I had to reenforce the bottom because it was a bit flimsy, but I think that was just personal preference. Alright, without further adieu, here is my new grown-up bag:

I LOVE the pinstriped fabric!

Yeah, that is some cardboard in the bottom! I plan on sewing something a little more permanent inside once I figure out what I want to do with it!

A good amount of pockets!

I love these little knobs on the bottom!

 All in all, this bag does fit my needs quite well! I did end up getting a little smudge on it earlier and it just wiped right off! It comes in eleven colors, so if you like it, you can match it to any outfit you can think of! What do you think?

Enjoy your day!

-M

Help: Cold Virus

Hello everyone! I just came down with a cold virus last night, and as you all know, I have a very important two weeks ahead of me with LSATs on October 6th. I am in need of any advice I can get to speed up recovery. You can leave a comment to this post, or email me at m.myselfinc@yahoo.com.

Thank you!

-M

TGIF

It is so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day with work, school, kids, ect. Sometimes A lot of times, we look up and realize that we already need to turn the calendar to a new month AGAIN! I know this is true for me, and I want to make sure that I am utilizing my time enough to take valuable steps to improve upon myself during the ever-increasing speed of life. One way to do this is to ask yourself every morning what is one way that you can make yourself better. There could be a range of things that you decide upon including: eating right, exercising, learning a new skill, contacting an old relationship that you have neglected, learning about money, and the list goes on and on. One way that you can do this is by turning off your television early and reading some literature on a subject that interests you, or going on that walk, or making dinner instead of heading to McDonald's. If you take just one small step per day, or even per week, you have a leg-up on over 90% of the population. This is a full-proof method, you cannot unlearn a skill that you develop, you can't take good food out of your body once it has been consumed, you can't undo your 30 minute jog (no, not even with a slice of chocolate cake), because they have already been done and you HAVE benefited from them!

My Summer 2012 reading list

Enjoy your day, and do something to improve yourself!

-M

Quick Tip: Freezing Cookie Dough

As I have explained here and here, I LOVE freezing cookie dough. It is so easy and saves me so much time!!! I have received several inquiries about the process of doing this, so I thought it would be a good time to explain my process. Let's not waist any time:

1. Place cookie dough on a sheet of wax paper. Don't place it directly on plastic wrap or in a plastic bag because you will have a big sticky mess on your hands once you thaw it out.

2. Wrap the dough in the wax paper. Try to get all of the air bubbles squeezed out to prevent any freezer-burn.

3. Wrap the wax-papered dough tightly in cling wrap. This ensures that the wax paper stays tightly wrapped and no air gets in.

4. Place wrapped dough in a freezer bag.

5. Squeeze out air and label with the date if desired. I do not label mine very often because I use mine up within two weeks, but this can be a very important step if you want to keep the dough longer, or have many different kinds of dough. I have not come across an exact amount of time that it will stay good in the freezer, but the general consensus is about 2-3 months.

Hope that helps!


Enjoy your day!

-M

Cookin' with Laura: White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

I have yet to come across something that Laura Vitale has made that I haven't loved, and if I did I probably wouldn't write a post on it (or I would just warn you that I am not a fan)! So this week is no different! As I have said before, I only make cookie dough once every two weeks but I freeze half the dough so that we can have fresh baked cookies every week (if you are interested in how I freeze cookies, stay tuned for tomorrow's post were I will explain the process in detail)!

My husband practically started drooling when we watched Laura make these cookies, so I knew it was only a matter of time before I would be making them. The only implication with these delicious morsels of joy is that macadamia nuts are kind of expensive (at least they are in my area). I spent a little over $3 on about a half of a cup of them. I am going to look around at some different stores to see if there is a better deal (maybe if you buy in bulk?), and I will post an update if I find anything. If anyone knows where you can buy these cheaper, please share the love and leave a comment to this post. With that being said, these are soooooooo good, and as with most of Laura's recipes, really easy. So let's get to it, shall we?

As always, you can watch Laura make this recipe here.

Ingredients:

2 Sticks (1 cup) of Unsalted Butter
1 ½ cups of Sugar
½ cup of Brown Sugar
1 tsp of Vanilla
2 Eggs
2 ½ cups of Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
½ tsp Baking Powder
½ tsp of Salt
1 ½ cups of White Chocolate Chips
1 cup of Macadamia Nuts, chopped (I only used a half a cup, and they turned out great!)

Process:

1) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2) In a large bowl cream together the brown sugar, granulated sugar and butter, add the eggs and vanilla and whisk to combine.

3) Add the baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour, mix to combine.

4) Fold in macadamia nuts and white chocolate chips.

Again, I ate a decent amount of this! :)

5) Drop dough buy tablespoon full a couple inches apart on a non stick baking sheet. Bake for 9 to 10 minutes and let cool completely on a wire rack before serving.

YUM!

Enjoy your day, and maybe some cookies?!

-M

Oatmeal Breakfast

Now, I have repeatedly said how much I love making everything from scratch, but there are exceptions that I make every once in a while (aka: I love pizza, and sometimes do not enjoy making it from scratch, but more on that later), but most of the time I will only eat pre-made food if it is certified organic. I have learned how to find great deals on organic food over the years, and I would like to share one of them with you now:

I bought this at the 99Cents Only store down the street from my house, and from what I have read they have discontinued this kind of oatmeal. Obviously, I got it for a dollar (there is no tax on food items at this particular store), and when I used to buy organic oatmeal (besides the fact that it tasted like cardboard) it was normally in the range of three to four dollars. Not bad if I do say so myself (especially since this oatmeal tastes pretty great)!

You can find deals like this at most discount stores (ex. Big Lots, Ross, T.J. Max, Dollar Stores ect.). Cole used to work at a grocery store, and he said that it was common practice to sell goods such as these to the discount stores if: there is a damaged load of goods (aka: the box looks a bit dented), or if an item doesn't sell within a certain amount of time (remember to always check the expiration date when buying from discount stores!). This is a great way to feed your family good, healthy food on a budget!

Here is what Cole had for breakfast this morning:

Because I bring his breakfast into the bedroom for him (he is not an easy one to wake up, but food normally does the trick), I don't want the oatmeal to get super soggy! What I do is put the dry oatmeal in a bowl with all the fixins' on the side. Here we have the oatmeal (obviously), a mix of fresh berries, organic almond milk (he likes the vanilla flavor), and hot water in the mug. It is a simple, easy breakfast for mornings when we are running to get out the door!

Enjoy your day!

-M

What is your go-to easy breakfast? Do you have any tricks to buying good food on a budget? Let me know in the comments or email me at m.myselfinc@yahoo.com.