Posts made in June, 2012

Birthday Edition Round-up

Posted by michelle on Jun 30, 2012 in Site News | 18 comments

What to Do When You Get a Traffic Ticket

Posted by Guest on Jun 29, 2012 in Recommendations | 18 comments

The following is a guest post by financial writer Dale Cooper. 

Beginner’s Guide to Understanding Traffic Tickets

Few things have the ability to ruin your day like a traffic ticket. Getting pulled over will delay your schedule, and the fines can seem outrageously expensive. If you are issued a traffic citation, you probably have a few questions. The officer who pulls you over will explain what you should do next, but in case you miss a few details, here’s a guide to understanding your traffic ticket.

How much do you owe?

The first question you probably have after getting a traffic ticket is how much it will cost. Each state and municipality has its own laws dictating traffic violation fines, so the amount you owe will depend on where you are pulled over. The traffic violation fine is usually not included on the ticket itself. That’s because fines are calculated based on the circumstances under which you were pulled over. For example, if you are issued a speeding ticket, the fine will depend on your speed, the speed limit, whether you were in a school or construction zone, and possibly things like weather conditions. To find out how much your traffic ticket will cost, you usually have to call a phone number printed on the back of the citation. You’ll find out how much you owe, when the fine is due and how you are able to pay.

Do you have to go to court?

Most traffic citations can be paid without appearing before a judge, but there are exceptions. For more serious legal violations, such as going much faster than the speed limit or speeding in a school zone, a court appearance may be required. If you are found guilty in court, you will be responsible for the cost of the traffic ticket plus an additional fee for court costs. Even if you are not required to go to court, you always have the option to go. Most traffic tickets include a court date when they are issued. If you decide to pay the fine before the court date, the court date will be automatically canceled. However, if you feel that you were unfairly issued a traffic citation, you can opt to appear at court and plead your case. If the judge finds you not guilty, the traffic fine will be waived; but if you are found guilty, or plead no contest, you will be responsible for the traffic fine plus court costs.

Is your driving record affected?

Most states have a system of points that can be applied to your license when you violate traffic laws. Each traffic violation will cause you to incur a set number of points, the accumulation of which can lead to higher car insurance rates and potentially a driver’s license suspension. If you’re not sure how many points are on your license, call your state’s department of motor vehicles. If you’re looking for better insurance rates or discount car insurance, compare auto insurance quotes from several providers, and choose the policy that fits your budget.

Skating By For a Week When Your Checking Account is Nearly Empty

Posted by jefferson on Jun 27, 2012 in Saving Money | 48 comments

Have you ever popped in to look at your checking account and realized that the balance was flirting dangerously close to zero?  Before we started taking budgeting seriously, this type of thing happened to us all of the time.  You could just pretend that you didn’t notice and continuing to spend money as normal, but this approach will clearly lead to you being torn a new one by bank fees.  This discovery leaves you in a state of “financial limbo” until your next payday.  You have no choice but to tighten your belt, avoid spending ALL money for a few days (or even weeks), and somehow find a way to skate by.

This scenario is not unique to folks who are living in complete financial disarray. It can happen to anyone.  We actually found ourselves planted firmly in a “broke week” prior to last Friday’s paycheck.  This time, the problem wasn’t that we went on a spending frenzy, or had some large unexpected expenses creep up.  Instead,  I had actually overestimated the amount of money that we could use to repay debts– and hadn’t left enough in the coffers to cover basic expenses like food and gas.  We could have raided the emergency fund to help out, but there wasn’t a true “emergency” that justified doing this.

This scenario shouldn’t happen in the future when we finish paying down our balances and finally get some debt relief.   But for now, we didn’t panic and calmy responded by shifting our plans and habits a bit.  If you find yourself in this low-balance situation, here are some tips to help you get through it.

Scrounge For Dollars

We try to live cash-free as much as possible, but when we do get any coins, we drop them into a bucket in our kitchen.  In lean times, this bucket can be raided for gas money, lunch money, and whatever other needs arise.  This is also a great opportunity to clean out your car and see if you can find any loose change floating aroud.

Coins alone may not be enough to cover all of your needs, so you should also consider selling a few items to help raise some funds.  Everyone has things in their house that they no longer use, and you shouldn’t be afraid to convert those items into cash.   E-bay tends to move rather slow, so Craigslist might be a better option for quick fundraising.  You can sell anything on craigslist, really, but electronics and baby items tend to fetch good value and lots of interest.

Raid Your Pantry

The biggest variable expense in our lives is our food costs, and at any given time– we have enough groceries in our house to skate by for a week or so.  When times get tight, it is a great time to raid the pantry to see what cheap and easy meals you can come up with.  For dinner, you could have a “soup night”,  as you have to eat those old cans of minestrone at some point, right?  This can also be a great opportunity to put the big bag of frozen chicken to good use.  For lunch,  let the kids have  peanut butter and crackers. For breakfast, oatmeal is cheap and easy and makes a great budget food.

You can also combine ingredients that you already have to make new meals.  For example;  combining a can of tuna,  some minute rice, a can of frozen peas, and some cheddar cheese, makes for a delicious meal.

One thing you have to avoid during these periods is eating out.  Bring cheap lunches to work, and eat together as a family at home.  Your limited budget can get drained in a single night if you can’t avoid making it a restaurant evening.

Work From Home

If you have a job that lets you work from home, lean times are the perfect opportunity to take advantage of that policy.  You will save a ton on gas money, you wont be tempted to go out to lunch or hit up the coffee bar, and you can just work in your pajamas all day (which saves on laundry!)  Of course,  don’t take more WFH days than you work allows, or you may have this privilege taken away in the future.

Last Resort – The Emergency Fund

The scrounging methods above will work well for variable expenses, but if you have a credit card payment due and no money to cover it– you may want to consider raiding your emergency fund.  I would be willing to call it an “emergency” if you find yourself in a situation where the bill won’t get paid otherwise, and the banks are about to drop  late fees and rate increases on you.  Once you do get your next paycheck, you should certainly reimburse your e-fund back to its previous value, so that you are ready for the next emergency.