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Nowadays, it can cost a lot of money to maintain a home. According to angi.com, American homeowners spend on average $3,192 a year on upkeep for their homes. This doesn’t even include larger repairs that might arise, such as fixing a leaky roof, buying a new furnace, or replacing a broken appliance. Here are a few tips for spending wisely on home maintenance.

1. Get multiple quotes for larger projects. Have a few different people come out to give you a quote on large repairs. This will tell you if any one repair person is trying to charge you too much.
2. Before buying a new home, ensure your home inspector looks at everything thoroughly and provides a detailed report about the things that may need to be fixed.
3. Ensure you have adequate insurance that covers flooding, earthquake damage, and/or fire damage. This is especially important if you live in an area that has experienced these disasters before.
4. Check your toilets, faucets, and sprinkler valves for leaks. Water leaks not only cost money due to wasted water but also can cause damage to your home, so it is a good idea to get them fixed quickly.
5. Perform regular maintenance tasks such as changing your furnace filter, oiling your automatic gate, cleaning your refrigerator coils, etc. to ensure everything is working as efficiently as possible.

During the pandemic, many Americans were able to save quite a bit of money. They spent less on travel, dining out, and other leisure activities. And, many individuals received pandemic-related financial assistance that allowed them to grow their savings. Now that society has opened up, Americans are starting to spend more and household credit card debt has grown greatly. According to Bloomberg.com, Americans now have a combined credit card debt of $986 billion. And with credit card interest rates climbing, paying off debt can become more difficult.

Here are a few ways to help reduce credit card debt:

1. If you have more than one credit card, consider finding the card with the highest interest rate and working on paying off that card first.
2. Consider transferring your debt to a new credit card with an introductory interest rate of 0%. Use the new credit card and pay off as much as possible before the rate goes up.
3. Bring in more income to help pay off your debts. You could do this by taking an additional job, asking for a raise if you deserve it, and/or taking on more hours at your current job.
4. Talk to your credit card company about getting a lower interest rate or working out a plan for paying back your debt.
5. Save money by eliminating any monthly charges for things you don’t need. For example, end magazine subscriptions, cable TV subscriptions, gym subscriptions, or meal subscriptions. You can check out magazines from the library, get a cheaper streaming service, or exercise and cook meals at home.

-Allison G.

Technology has advanced a great deal in recent years and there are ways to use it to save money. Here are a few tips.

1. Set up automatic bill pay. Pay all of your bills automatically by putting a credit/debit card on file or setting up a withdrawal from your checking account. This can save you from paying late fees and many companies offer financial incentives if you sign up for this helpful feature.
2. Use a browser add-on so the internet can find you the best deals. For example, if you add Honey as a browser extension tool, whenever you are on the checkout page on a website, Honey will search the web for applicable coupons to save you money.
3. Terminate your phone landline. Now you can use a cell phone for all of your calls and you don’t even need a home landline anymore, saving monthly phone bill fees.
4. Install a smart home device. You can get a home device that will automatically turn off your heating/air conditioning and electricity at certain times a day, saving a lot on heat and electricity bills.
5. Take virtual tours. If you’re interested in visiting a certain museum or taking a college campus tour, you can virtually visit for free.

Now that schools are back in session and students are back in the classroom after a few difficult years during the pandemic, school-related expenses have returned as well. Here are a few tips for saving money this school year.

1. Have the kids walk to school, take the school bus, or use public transportation. Gas prices continue to be at historic highs, so the dollars add up when you drive your students to school and back. Carpooling is another great option if other families live nearby and can help divide up the pick-ups and drop-offs.
2. Purchase uniforms online. If your students need school uniforms, retailers such as Amazon and JCPenney sell solid-colored polo shirts and khaki pants/skirts that are fairly inexpensive. You can also buy them mid-year rather than right before school starts. Prices are generally lower for school related items after August and September.
3. Instead of donating money to your school, donate time. Many schools ask parents for an annual donation or contribution to classroom funds. Instead of providing money, you could volunteer at the school fundraising events, or ask your childrens’ teachers if you can help out with classroom prep.
4. Shop at second-hand stores for Halloween costumes, athletic gear, and school supplies.
5. Take advantage of price-matching. Retailers such as Wal-Mart and Best Buy will price match so if you find a cheaper price online or at a different store, take in the price you found and ask them to match it.

Since college tuition is increasing at a very fast rate, if you have kids, it helps to start thinking about saving for college when your kids are young. One of the best savings vehicles for college is a 529 plan. A 529 plan is a savings account that provides tax benefits when you use the money for your children’s K-12 or college tuition. Basically, the earnings you get from investing your money in a 529 plan are not taxed at all if you withdraw the funds to pay for K-12 school (up to $10,000 per year) or college tuition.

Since nearly every state offers a 529 plan, and you don’t have to sign up with the state’s plan where you live, how do you decide which state plan to go with? First, it helps to look at your home state’s plan to see if you get any special benefits for being an in-state resident. Many states offer state income tax deductions for the amounts you contribute to an in-state 529 plan. For example, in Alabama if you contribute $10,000 in one year to an Alabama 529 plan, and you are married filing jointly you can deduct the entire $10,000 contribution on your state tax return. Also, some states such as Arizona and Kansas offer tax deductions for contributions made to ANY 529 plan in any state, not just your home state.

If you live in a state that offers a 529 plan but doesn’t provide any tax benefits to in-state residents, it won’t help to just invest with a plan in your state. It’s better to look around and find the best plan available. Some things to consider are: 1) Fees (how much does the plan charge?) 2) Types of investments offered (i.e., what kinds of mutual funds or stocks can you invest in), and 3) Ease of use (i.e., is it fairly easy to set everything up online, including automatic contributions, beneficiary designations, etc.).

To view some ratings of 529 plans, you can visit https://www.forbes.com/advisor/student-loans/best-529-plans/ or https://www.morningstar.com/articles/1062917/the-top-529-education-savings-plans-of-2021.

We are currently seeing record high prices for many basic consumer goods, and these high prices may stay high until the demand for them drops a little and supply chains are fixed. Here are a few things you can do to help keep your finances in good shape during this time.

1. Create a budget and stick to it. To stay within a budget, you may need to cut down on unnecessary things to ensure you can still pay all of the bills. Consider buying more generic brand items at the grocery store, using an app such as gasbuddy to find the cheapest gas, and cutting out streaming services you don’t use. Here’s a link to a helpful budget calculator online: https://www.quicken.com/resources/calculators/budget-calculator
2. Consider getting another job or working more each week. Jobs are plentiful right now and wages are going up. Websites such as flexjobs.com and taskrabbit.com are great for perusing for side gigs or finding work-from-home jobs.
3. Compare prices before you buy and use coupons where possible. Websites such as groupon.com, freeshipping.org, and retailmenot.com provide easy search options to check for coupons from different retailers. If a website has a coupon code field, there may be a coupon out there you can use to save money.
4. Postpone vacations and/or take them during an off-time. It may be that prices will start falling in another 6 to 12 months and you could save quite a bit of money by going a little later.

If you have been keeping up with the latest financial news, it probably seems as though everything is going terribly. Inflation is at its highest in 40 years, gas prices are sky-high, buying a home is difficult to afford, interest rates for loans are creeping up, etc. But there’s actually a lot of good news—here are a few positive developments.

*The U.S. Economy added over 430,000 new jobs in March, 2022 and the unemployment rate is now around 3.6% (historically very low)

*Worker pay in the U.S. rose 5.6% since March of last year.

*U.S. gas prices peaked in mid-March, 2022 and are now declining. The current national average is $4.23 per gallon.

*U.S. household credit card balances remain $71 billion lower than they were prior to the pandemic.

*The summer tourism industry may be rebounding: U.S. travel bookings are up 58% for this upcoming summer compared to last year.

Now that U.S. gas prices are at their highest levels in decades, it helps to think about how to save money on gas. Here are some tips.

*Combine trips. Plan your trips so if you have to pick up a child from school, go to work, and/or run errands, do them all at the same time on the same trip.

*Check gas prices in your neighborhood or on your commute route to see which gas stations offer the best values. Gasbuddy.com and Waze provide gas pricing information.

*Use other methods of transportation if possible. Try to walk, ride a bike, use a bus, carpool, or share an Uber ride.

*Remove heavy items from your car so you get the best mileage possible.

*Don’t speed too much. Traveling above 60 miles per hour means you are not using your gas efficiently and will decrease the miles per gallon you get for your gas.

*Turn your car engine off when waiting. It saves gas money and helps the environment.

*Pay for your gas with cash rather than a credit card. Often the price per gallon is cheaper when you use cash.

Couples who may want to improve their relationship may see a therapist to work on communication, intimacy, etc. But did you know that there are therapists specifically for people who need help with the emotional aspects of dealing with finances? These types of therapists are financial therapists and they can help clients understand how to get out of bad patterns, communicate better about money, and plan for a strong financial future.

If you are someone who has a difficult time saving money, or has trouble working out financial issues with your spouse, meeting with a financial therapist could be beneficial. Financial therapists can also help people understand some of the underlying reasons why they feel anxious about their finances or why they get into bad habits with their money.

Financial therapy may even be covered by some insurance plans. To learn more about the field and/or connect with a financial therapist, you can go to: financialtherapyassociation.org

Do you have any New Year’s resolutions that involve improving your finances? If so, you are not alone, as more than half of all Americans report that their resolutions include goals related to finance. One thing that may be helpful to do is to take a quick online course to learn about money management. Here are a few free ones that provide helpful info:

https://www.coursera.org/learn/family-planning: this course provides an in-depth discussion about all of the basics of financial planning, from learning about compounding interest to choosing investment options to setting up a rainy day fund. It is a long course but you can choose the topics you would like to learn about.

https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/core-finance/taxes-topic#taxes: Khan Academy provides several free courses in the area of financial management. This one focuses on taxes and how they work. Since everyone has to pay taxes and the tax system is so complex, this course helps explain tax rates, progressive taxation, and the alternative minimum tax.