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February 29, 2012, at 6:00 am If you're new to BFS, please subscribe to my RSS feed. It shows me a vote of support and keeps me motivated to keep your attention. If you have any questions or comments for me, please contact me and I'll get back to you asap. Thanks for visiting! As I told you all towards the end of November 2011, I am posting updates twice a month here to keep me accountable for the $1200 a year for fitness that we are spending on Weight Watchers and our gym memberships. Yep, I am using you as my accountability partners whether you signed up for it or not, hahaha. I’m posting on the weekday closest to the 15th and last day of each month. Here is how I did for the past couple of weeks.
My Update for February 12th through February 25th, 2012
I was really good the first week and pretty lazy the second week as far as exercise goes. BUT, I lost weight! Yay! Here were my results.
Weight Watchers
I was getting 29 food points a day (now 26) and 49 weekly points to use as I wished on food each week, so 252 total points. So, I am aiming for 250 food points or less a week from here on out. I have to use a minimum of 182 or I’d be physically starving my body – that wouldn’t be a healthy diet at all. Let’s see how I did:
Week of February 12 – February 18, 2012:
Sunday - 26 points
Monday – 36 points
Tuesday – 26 points
Wednesday - 34 points
Thursday – 26 points
Friday - 42 points
Saturday – 31 points
Total Weekly Points Used: 221 Points – WOOT!!!
Week of February 19 – February 25, 2012:
Sunday - 35 points
Monday – 36 points
Tuesday – 30 points
Wednesday - 26 points
Thursday - 34 points
Friday - 33 points
Saturday - 35 points
Total Weekly Points Used: 229 Points – Yay again!
I did it!!! I am back on the Weight Watcher Points Plus Program 100%!!! 
Gym Attendance
I set the goal to go to the gym at least 3 times a week when we signed up. I also have a bowling league Thursday nights and walk the neighborhood once in a while as well, but this is just about my gym attendance. Let’s see how I did.
Week of February 12 – February 18, 2012:
Sunday – Nope
Monday – Nope
Tuesday – Racquetball for 50 minutes
Wednesday – Nope
Thursday – Racquetball for 60 minutes
Friday – Nope
Saturday – Racquetball for 40 minutes
Total Weekly Times at the Gym: 3 times – Yay!
Week of February 19 – February 25, 2012:
Sunday – Nope
Monday – Nope
Tuesday – Nope
Wednesday – Nope
Thursday – Nope
Friday – Nope
Saturday – Nope
Total Weekly Times at the Gym: 0 times – Boogers. Yeah, I sucked.
One out of two isn’t bad but I will never hit my goal of exercising 150 times this year if I don’t pick up the pace!!!
Weight Goals
Other than the diet and exercise goals mentioned above, here are some weight goals for 2012:
- Weigh 145 pounds by April 9th, 2012 for the 10-pound Challenge I joined.
- Weigh 135 pounds by December 31st, 2012.
I started at 155.6 pounds on November 28, 2011, was up to 159 after the holidays, have been at the low of 154 since then, weighed 156.8 pounds last week, and now…I am at 153.2!!! Yay, 3 month low! I promised you a loss of at least 2 pounds over the last two weeks in my last update, and I am down 3.6 pounds!!! This accountability thing really works!!!
That said, my next update will have me down at least 2 more pounds – so 151.2 or less. Let’s see if peer pressure can work its magic again. 
How did you do on your fitness goals?
February 28, 2012, at 6:00 am
The following is a guest post from Evan, who writes at My Journey to Millions, a blog about personal finance, estate planning, taxes, his multiple streams of income and whatever else he feels like writing about that day.
I have been thinking about this post for a while but didn’t know where to take it until Crystal became my unlikely muse. In her post announcing the newest member of team Crystal-For-Hire she mentions,
So yes, all of our eggs are in one very new basket, but we wove that basket well. I have created a growing business that I love and that hopefully shows. My husband is fantastically detail-oriented and very intelligent, so with his help, this business will continue to grow, be able to expand even more, and we have always been able to handle more together anyway.
Between reading that post and knowing about her mortgage destruction plan something started to click for me and it was the Circle of Financial Growth.
What is the Circle of Financial Growth?
Often those not obsessed with personal finance will take one step forward and one step back. This means that they will “insert money saving technique here” but never actually capture the gain. We all have that friend who will be pumped up about savings $50 on his cable bill monthly, only to increase his monthly trips to the bar completely negating the gain. Interestingly, people tend to do this with weight loss as well. I have a friend now who has given up all alcohol until June but continues to eat loafs of bread when he goes out to dinner. Notwithstanding my portly friend, the idea is to capture your “money-win.”
For Example, this past year I destroyed my last non-mortgage/student loan debt. Instead of just letting that $300 accumulate in my checking account (which is a financial disaster for me since I have to keep myself cash poor) I set up an automatic ING deposit in the same amount. Now my family’s cash flow never changed but I am saving more money. Crystal on the other hand is using her circle to pay off her mortgage early. What will that do by its very definition? Free up more cash flow. Which in then can be used to build yet another circle that will fund her next project.
Applying the Circle of Financial Growth to Multiple Streams of Income
I am obsessed with getting to a place in my life where I have multiple streams of income. The theory in it of itself, never less the actual accomplishment, provides me with a feeling financial freedom. Currently an abridged version of my secondary income looks something like this:
All most all of my blogging income is used to keep that machine running and some is used to build more circles.
What are some of your Circles of Financial Growth? Are they debt related only right now (Debt snowball)? Or are you trying to build multiple streams of income as well?
Crystal’s Comments: Yep, saving money doesn’t mean anything until you figure out where to invest it, put it, or what to pay off with it. As Evan already noticed, we are paying off our house with some extra income and building up our investment portfolio with some of it as well.
February 27, 2012, at 6:00 am
***I AM NOT AN EXPERT. THIS IS NOT ADVICE. DO NOT EVEN TAKE IT ANY OF IT AS A SUGGESTION FOR YOUR OWN TAXES OR BUSINESS. THIS IS A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. IF YOU WANT REAL ANSWERS, SCHEDULE A MEETING WITH A TAX LAWYER OR CPA YOURSELF. DO NOT MAKE ME BAN YOU FOR BEING STUPID. THANK YOU.***
As I have mentioned, Mr. BFS and I really didn’t know how we were going to proceed tax-wise now that we are both working from home. Tons of people have suggested we incorporate and form an LLC but nobody could really tell us where to go from there. So we scheduled a one-on-one meeting with a tax lawyer. Here is what we have figured out for our own situation:
Should We Form an LLC?
Not right now. As it was explained, an LLC offers an extra layer of protection for a business with assets and employees. Personal liability is still personal liability. Since our business is in the services industry, whatever we say or do still falls under personal liability. So the protection of an LLC only makes sense if we want to protect ourselves from an employee’s or outside partner’s personal liability. We don’t have employees or outside partners. Plus, there are extra taxes associated with an LLC after a certain income level is reached in Texas. So an LLC would open us up to even more taxes without having any real benefits for us.
As the nice man explained, if you run someone over with your company car while out for business purposes, you are still personally liable for that accident and hopefully have insurance to help you out since your assets are on the line. If one of your employee’s runs someone over with the company car while on business, they are personally liable AND you could be personally liable and your assets would be up for grabs if you are not incorporated. But if you are incorporated, the employee is personally liable and the business is liable instead of you, so your personal assets would be protected.
As of right now, it is just Mr. BFS and myself, and we are a legal entity of one married couple as seen by the eyes of tax law. Whether a sole proprietorship or an LLC, we are going to be held personally liable for anything bad anyway. Now that we know that, we are looking into our insurance options as it would be very sucky indeed to lose everything over one business mistake. Thankfully, we aren’t in a life or death business though, so most issues that we may have to deal with could be handled in small claims court if necessary.
How Should We Pay Ourselves?
I wanted to know if we needed to legally be declaring that we pay ourselves a salary or do we just draw from our income? The difference boils down to using a W2 versus filing our business profits and expenses on a Schedule C. Since there was no tax advantage to a W2 in our case and we are staying a sole proprietorship, it just makes sense to file everything on a Schedule C after all. So no big change there for us, yay!
How Should We Handle the Paypal 1099-K and other 1099′s?
Paypal is now required to send a 1099-K to anyone that brings in over a certain amount of cash through Paypal…that would be me. That wouldn’t be an issue at all except I also distribute payments out to my ad clients, so I am not actually making what the 1099-K says I am making. Also, some of my clients sent me basic 1099′s for cash that is already taken into account on the 1099-K, so that income was actually double-reported to the IRS. Needless to say, we asked what the heck we should do.
It ends up that it really is no big deal. We should report the 1099-K income, report the 1099 income, show the overlap, state the payment distributions as expenses, list all other expenses, and we will end up showing the net income that needs to be taxed. Apparently, even if the IRS has questions, they will send a “matching letter” before unleashing their fury. We can respond to that letter explaining the whole mess and showing our complete records, and they will take a look, realize we are not trying to falsify anything, and all will be well. The trick is having VERY thorough records, which is not a problem at all for us since that is a huge part of our business anyway.
Should We Mash Together my Blog Income and my Business Income?
Yes. In the IRS’s eyes, it’s fine to report all of my blog income and blog business income on the same Schedule C. Yay, one easy answer.
So, after one 30 minute meeting, it ends up that Mr. BFS and I are already doing what we should be doing as far as taxes go. Woot! This very nice tax lawyer was kind enough not to charge us for his time either. But we did ask him about his rates for doing our taxes for us if we decide not to do them ourselves. With our records being as straight-forward as they are, and the fact that he noticed how “organized” I am (aka, anal as Mr. BFS chimed in), he quoted us $300-$400 a year to handle it all. We are seriously considering taking him up on that offer since that seems more than reasonable considering the 10-20 hours it usually takes us to do them anyway. Yay for the decisions of self employment.
Anything interesting that we forgot to ask?
February 26, 2012, at 5:00 am
The following is a guest post.
When people think about insurance, they think about what is required – car insurance and home insurance. Many states require drivers to have car insurance, and most lenders require mortgage insurance. However, do you have enough insurance for the other things that matter in life?
Life Insurance
If you have children or loved ones who depend on you, life insurance is essential. Life insurance is designed to pay a benefit on your death, and most individuals ensure that benefit allows for care of their spouse or children. For example, your spouse could need to hire a babysitter now, but your income is gone. Life insurance can help with those expenses.
Disability Insurance
Disability insurance is another important area to consider – what if you are injured and cannot work? How will the bills get paid? How will you be able to save for your children’s education? Disability insurance helps cover the income gap from not being able to work, so it can be essential for any wage earner in the household.
Business Insurance
Do you run a side business at home? Are you a landlord? If you answered yes, you could open yourself up to future liabilities. If you own a business, you should ensure that you have adequate insurance to cover yourself should you face a lawsuit. You don’t want to have to pay with your personal assets.
If you own a rental property, you should consider getting landlord insurance. This can help protect you if you have any issues arise from your renters – from property damage to even lost rents. Also, it can protect you should your tenants get injured and sue you for damages.
The bottom line is that it is essential for you to make sure that you have enough insurance to meet your needs, and the needs of your family. Look at your financial plan, and then look at it without your income. That difference needs to be covered, and insurance is designed for that purpose. Shop around, compare the costs, and get the insurance you need to protect your family.
February 25, 2012, at 6:00 am
Weekly Updates
My Favorite Posts this Week
Guest Posts at BFS
Thank you!
Giveaways
Blog Carnivals
If you are hosting a carnival that includes Budgeting in the Fun Stuff, please email me so I can include it in my roundup. Thanks!
Top 5 Referring Sites to BFS from Last Week:
- Get Rich Slowly
- Yakezie
- Free Money Finance
- Invest It Wisely
- Money Reasons
Thank you!
Feel free to contact me if you have any suggestions. I’d love to add a few more blogs to my regular reading list or at least give a shout-out for great posts or contests.
As always, thanks to all the bloggers that teach me something new every day. Thanks to all my commenters for making this blog the community I want it to be. Thanks to all my lurkers too.
I hope everybody is enjoying this as much as me!
My Other Sites and Co-Owned Sites this Week
February 24, 2012, at 6:00 am
Hey everyone! Wong, a commenter on my 2 Year Blogoversary Giveaway, suggested that BFS start including a Reader Profile series like you may see around other sites. I love this idea!!! Whenever I feel overwhelmed, sometimes all that keeps me posting are the wonderfully supportive comments I receive daily from all of you. I would truly enjoy learning more about you!
With that in mind, here are some basic questions to cover in your Reader Profile:
- How old are you? Or what age range are you in?
- What is your living situation? How many family members? What type of home? What state or country?
- What would you like us to really remember about you?
- What is your household’s annual gross income? Or what income range is it in?
- How much are your general monthly expenses?
- What debts are you working off?
- Optional – What is your Net Worth?
- What are your top financial goals?
- How are you attempting to reach those goals?
- Optional – Why do you blog or why do you read BFS?
- Do you have any questions for the readers?
I can either post your profile with your name and/or blog URL or it can be anonymous. Your choice. Just email your profile to budgetingfunstuff *at* gmail *dot* com and please use the subject “Reader Profile”. I will attempt to publish a profile every week for Reader Profile Fridays.
To help you come up with ideas, here is an example of what would work great!
Reader Profile Friday – Crystal from Budgeting in the Fun Stuff (or an alias you’d like to use)
The following is a new profile for Reader Profile Fridays! Today we are getting to know Crystal from Budgeting in the Fun Stuff even better. Please take a look and feel free to comment with your answers to any questions Crystal may have, thanks!
Hi everyone! My name is Crystal. I am a 29 year old and have been married for nearly 7 years. My husband and I do not have children, and we live in a 1750 square foot, two-story home in Houston, TX with our two dogs – Miss Doxie is 14 now and Mr. Pug is around 9 years old. My biggest goal in life is to live it with as few regrets as possible, so I plan everything with my priorities in mind – friends and family. I never want to look back and wish I had spent more time with the ones I love – that is why I put so much emphasis on saving and living in the now at the same time.
Here’s our basic financial situation. My husband recently quit his day job as a school librarian to work at home with me on Crystal-For-Hire. Our business is less than a year old, so I am not 100% sure what our annual gross income will be, but my best estimate is around $180,000 a year. Our basic monthly expenses are about $60,000 a year.
We have been putting all of the extra we make after taxes towards our only debt right now, which is the approximate $28,000 that we have left on our mortgage. Once that is paid off, we are going back to using our extra income for investments (35%), cash savings (25%), joint vacations and big fun expenses (20%), and our personal fun money accounts (10% each).
Our current net worth with our home’s equity is around $260,000. Without including our house, our net worth is currently around $175,000.
That said, here are our top financial goals:
- Pay off the house by June 2012.
- Bring the emergency fund up from $10,000 to $15,000 by the end of 2012.
- Bring our online business account’s padding up from $10,000 to $15,000 by the end of 2012.
- Fully fund our two Roth IRA’s by the end of 2012.
- Build a net worth of at least $3,000,000 by 2025.
In order to hit those goals, we are trying to keep our basic expenses at less than half of our net pay after taxes. That means we need to make at least $15,000 a month to stay on track since at least $5000 of that goes to taxes and $5000 goes to basic expenses and the bare minimum of savings. The rest is how we hope to reach financial independence by 2025.
I started Budgeting in the Fun Stuff to interact with others on similar journeys and get your advice as we go. So, does it look like I am missing anything? Any suggestions?
Thank you all so much for being my online family! Remember to send your own profiles my way soon!
February 23, 2012, at 6:00 am
The following is a guest post from my mother-in-law, Mrs. Veranda, who just started blogging in January. Yep, I brought her to the dark side. I am one of the lucky people who actually loves their in-laws, so no MIL jokes. I was first introduced to Mr. BFS’s family a couple of months after we started dating in 2001 and they officially became my in-laws in mid-2005, so we’ve known each other pretty well for more than 10 years. For this post, she asked what she should write about and I said you all enjoyed personal stories. I plan to get more posts out of her in the future as well. Please check out Out on the Veranda when you have the chance!
I know you’ve heard that saying – big things come in small packages – well it’s true for my daughter-n-law, Crystal. When my son introduced her to us, I think she was about 21, but she looked 15. (I was 18, lol, and yes, I’ve always looked pretty young…) When your only child introduces you to his future bride, you are naturally skeptical. After all, he’s your pride and joy and no one is good enough. Or so I thought. Crystal has more than proven to us that she is a perfect match for our son. (Awwwww!)
Here’s why…
Crystal and Money
My husband and I have always said that my parents were tight with their money. Yet, not long ago, my father made the comment that Crystal and Mr BFS were so tight that they squeaked. I don’t think of them as tight, just very frugal with their money. The girl knows how to budget.
I wish we had known Crystal when we were first married and she could have given us pointers on creating and using a budget. Fortunately we had 401K’s and retirement accounts with our employers. (I still bore them with budget talk, lol. Never too late. )
Blogging for a Living
When Crystal first told us she was going to quit her day job and blog full time, we were concerned. First of all, we weren’t sure how blogging worked or how you could make money at it. And then there was the issue of job security. Well, as you all know, job security is a thing of the past. We were skeptical, but Crystal has shown us that she knows what she’s doing.
Once we sat down and talked to her and our son, we found out that she had investigated this every way there was to look at it. They both have college degrees, so there is always that to fall back on. But, to tell you the truth, I don’t think that will be necessary. At the rate they’re going, they’ll retire before we do and find something else to make money at. Crystal knows how to make money!
My Hopes for the Future
I hope that Crystal continues to prosper at the blogging business she created and will be able to cut back her hours to allow her to have some time for herself. I think that girl blogs 24/7! Of course, I would not mind a grandchild or two along the way as long as that is what they want…
Crystal’s Comments: LOL…grandkids? Let’s take one huge leap of faith at a time, shall we? Anyway, there you go folks…you have been demanding more posts from my family for about 2 years now. Now you have this one and the one from my mom about getting an antenna for your tv. Pretty soon, I’ll even get Mr. BFS to step up.
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DISCLAIMER I am not a professional or a financial advisor. BFS posts are informational opinions only. Please make your own financial decisions based on personal research or see a financial advisor.
Also, there are paid links on this site. There is no obligation on your part to purchase any products advertised on this website.
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