In 2009, over 3 million homes were forced into foreclosure. High unemployment, adjustable rate mortgages, and tight credit came together to make it simply impossible for many American homeowners to continue making mortgage payments. Foreclosure leaves a big black mark on your credit report, and can drop your credit score by up to 150 points, […]
Archive for 2010
Earn Money Submitting Free Money Deals
Posted byI’m excited to announce a new Free Money Friday offer just for My Dollar Plan readers! I know many of you like to send me deals that you find (which I love getting!) Starting today, we’re going to sweeten the deal for you by giving you free money to find and submit the free money […]
Each January I like to review all of our spending for the prior year. Since I track everything in Microsoft Money (yes, I’m still holding out until the end of the year to convert to Quicken) it’s pretty easy. I look at the average spending and then project what our spending will be for the […]
New Car Tax Deduction
Posted byWant to get a tax credit for your new car? If you bought a new vehicle last year, you may be able to take advantage of the following tax credits on your 2009 taxes: deducting the amount of state and local sales and excise tax paid. You can also take further tax deductions if you […]
How to Donate Your Used Car
Posted byWhile the Cash for Clunkers program helped many people in the market for buying a car optimize their savings, many people were unable to take advantage of this program (like myself!) because their ‘clunker’ or used car had too good of gas mileage to be counted. Another downfall was the fact that it significantly dropped […]
Savings: Starting from Scratch
Posted byMy fiancé and I recently purchased a home, as well as a used vehicle when my car died. In other words…we are close to starting from scratch with our savings. We have not been this low in our emergency or other savings accounts in years, and so I thought this would be a great time […]
How much money do you have to make to file taxes? That seems to be a popular question these days, especially for people that made less money last year due to the economy. 2009 Income Requirements For the 2009 tax year, you need to file taxes if your gross income meets the minimum income for […]
I’m not a big fan of the newsletters that come with all of our account statements in the mail. It seems like a lot of them are purchased from the same vendor and have many repeat articles. There is one exception, however, the Schwab On Investing magazine. It’s one of my favorites. While I was […]
Score Free Stuff on Your Birthday
Posted byBirthday freebies and free stuff for your birthday this year! Birthday gifts and surprises are not just for kids. After all, why should they have all the fun? My birthday is coming up, and I thought this would be a great opportunity to share with you lots of companies who offer freebies on your birthday […]
When my fiancé, Paul, and I bought our first home last September, a co-worker of mine asked if we were going to use an escrow account or not. After shelling out tens of thousands of dollars, the thought of owing large tax bills in just a few months in the New Year made an escrow […]