Mary Anne Carter » Finances

Running a cleaning business

Mary Anne — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 09:17:57 +0000

My sister used to clean houses in the past to make a little bit of extra money, and she was really good at that. She had quite a few customers. She hasn’t done that for several years now, but she is still getting phone calls from people asking her to come clean their house!
Where we live, more and more families are two-income families, which leaves them little time to clean house. The demand for cleaning services is on the increase, and I think that this would be a good opportunity for her to make some money running a business that she already is familiar with!

Gift baskets

Mary Anne — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 04:13:39 +0000

One of the many gifts that I like to give is a gift basket. Sometimes I like to make them up myself of lots of little things that I’ve made, either crafting or cooking, or a combination of the two. Doing that pretty much ensures that they are not getting a duplicate gift that someone else has given them.

Sometimes life gets hectic, and an unexpected gift giving occasion arrives and time doesn’t allow the luxury of making the gifts. That’s when buying a gourmet gift basket comes to the rescue. There are so many gourmet gift baskets on the market, it is pretty easy to find one that will suit almost any occasion and please any recipient.

Making the best decision

Mary Anne — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:03:12 +0000

The article written by Alonso Kramer

I was trying to use thewww.texaselectricityproviders.com/ website to figure out what the best options were for my energy utilities. I really need something I can rely on. At my one of my old houses, we had some problems with the provider. My husband and I always felt like we were being overcharged and it seemed like the electricity would cut out randomly for what seemed like no reason. We both decided we really wanted to do our research for the next house and avoid the same problem. We are set to move into our new house next month. We are both really excited. It is a lot bigger and a lot nicer than our first house together. However, since it is so big, I am a bit concerned about the price of our utilities and if we can handle it. My husband told me that he really thinks we will be fine. I just get a bit concerned because electricity is essential. I do not want to be strained for money so making the decision for the most cost-efficient and reliable source would be ideal for me right now.

Maintenance plans/extended warranties

Mary Anne — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 11:40:15 +0000

A lot of people tell me that maintenance/extended warranty plans are a gimmick and a waste of money, but I have found that when I pay for when, I usually end up using the service and it ends up paying for itself several times over. In this day and age of “planned obsolescence” I find that most products die within a week of the warranty period being over! So, I buy the maintenance/extended warranty if it is available and the item is expensive.

Credit reports/identity theft?

Mary Anne — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:19:18 +0000

A short while ago I filled up my gas tank at a Texaco station. I saw that they were running a special rebate promotion for new Texaco credit card holders, so when I got home I went online and applied for a new Texaco credit card for myself, and a separate one for my hubby.

I got my card a few days later, but I noticed in my email in-box was a rejection letter for my hubby’s card. It turns out that he was rejected because they don’t think he is him! They said that they rejected him based on information from a credit report company. So I printed it off and gave it to my hubby and told him to call the credit report company, which he has been trying to do all morning long. I am concerned that this may have something to do with an identity theft attempt!

Apparently didn’t get the new job I applied for

Mary Anne — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:14:40 +0000

I applied for a different job this week, and was hopeful that I would get it. It would have meant more money, and better working conditions, which would have been nice. They told me that they would call me back in for a second interview this week, but it is the end of the work week, the end of the work day and I haven’t heard from them, so I am assuming that someone else was given the job. I’m disappointed.

Setting up my home office

Mary Anne — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:24:33 +0000

For years I have been “making do” with hand-me-down office furniture in my home office. Nothing is ergonomic, nothing looks nice. In fact, it looks horrible! I have a very old student desk that I was given when I was in 3rd grade that I put an old wooden desk top on top of that I use to put my computer on. My printer is on a plastic shelving unit beside that desk. My chair is an old bar stool with casters on it. Nothing about it is comfortable at all!

I would like to buy new office furniture to set up my home office, I’m sure that I would be a lot more productive if I was comfortable!

Doing a refinance

Mary Anne — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 00:02:40 +0000

Judy was telling me that she is trying to get a mortgage rate adjustment on her house because she thinks that she qualifies for the government program that helps homeowners refinance their houses to reduce their monthly payment. The problem that she is having, though, is that the company wants her to have an accountant raleigh nc provide a certified audit regarding her home business’s annual income. The cost of having the audit is over $400, and her business is so small that she only made about $2000 last year! Don’t you think that is an outrageous demand? I certainly do!

Good to know

Mary Anne — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 17:28:14 +0000

One of the things that seems to be effecting everyone I know is how this challenging economy is ruining their credit ratings. Many people are defaulting on loans and credit cards because they have lost their jobs, or had to take pay cuts. Fortunately there is a plethora of useful information online about how to rebuild your credit fast to minimize the consequences of bad credit. In addition to the free information about how to rebuild credit fast there are a lot of businesses available who provide credit repair services available to the consumer.

Figuring out which is the best credit repair service can be problematic, however. I think that if I felt the need to get professional help with that situation I would probably go to my local bank and talk with my friend Katie to ask her where to start. She’s been my personal banker for the past two years and I have confidence that she would steer me in the right direction.

Totalled

Mary Anne — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 18:06:04 +0000

When my parents bought themselves a miniature RV, I asked them to let me buy it from them when they decided that they were tired of it and wanted to get rid of it. So when they gave it to my brother for free I was quite upset. Seems that he is always getting things for free from my folks while all I get is the shaft. Well, my brother used it to trade in on a larger RV to use to take to the races that he likes. He neglected to buy motorhome insurance on his new RV and his RV slipped out of gear when parked on a hill in his back yard. No one was hurt, but the RV is totalled. I feel evil that I don’t feel bad about it.

My sister came for a visit this weekend.

Mary Anne — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 19:14:13 +0000

My younger sister came over this past Saturday afternoon and spent the night. It was nice to see her and to catch up on what’s going on in her life! We were talking about the bad economy, and how hard it is to keep up with the ever increasing cost of living. She is interested in starting her own business, and we were talking about the opportunities to make good money doing something like that. I suggested that she sign up for a couple of college courses in starting a business because I think that it is a lot harder to do than it sounds.

Thinking about jobs I’ve had – the food thief

Mary Anne — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 09:30:07 +0000

While thinking about the job I applied for and didn’t get, I’ve been reminiscing about jobs I’ve held in the past, and the people I’ve run into.

I used to work for a large corporation that would “lend” me out to different offices from time to time. Today I was remembering one of the times that I was lent out to an office that was a long commute from my home, and the hardships that caused me.

I started remembering the different personalities that I ran into at that office, and found myself shaking my head at the memory of one of the ladies who always snuck into everyone else’s desk drawers to steal items from their lunch boxes. I was remembering how angry that made me because I didn’t want to feel that I had to carry my lunch box with me every time I left my desk, but if I didn’t carry my lunch box with me, she would steal my lunch and then I’d go hungry!

Complaining to the boss did no good whatsoever. I was really glad when my time of being sent to that office was finished!

Magazine articles about making money at home

Mary Anne — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 18:41:45 +0000

Every couple of months I’ll buy a magazine that has headlines that catch my eye, like how to save hundreds of dollars on groceries, and/or how to make money at home. I’m always hopeful that I’ll learn something that I don’t already know and that new knowledge will make our lives here at home a lot easier.

I just bought a magazine like that this past weekend. This magazine was promising both of those stories. Usually I spend a couple of minutes in the check out line skimming the articles to see if the magazine is any good or not, but this time I didn’t have the time to do that. The article about saving money on food was the same-old-same-old advice; use coupons, shop sales, buy store brand. I have a word of caution here – I don’t always buy the store brand because it is not always cheaper! I needed to buy some Truvia this past weekend and saw that there is a store brand of it, but the price was higher per unit.

As for making money at home, the article suggested that people look into using the Internet to make money. Specifically the article was talking about bloggers putting paid advertising on their blogs. I went to the Internet to get more information about that and found the bizzclick Home page and looked at the Advertiser page and the Publisher page and soon realized that if I depended on pay-per-click income that I’d starve to death under a bridge somewhere. I know my brother makes money doing that, and more power to him!

Shopping with coupons

Mary Anne — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 17:22:49 +0000

I love to shop with coupons! When I bought my Roomba vacuum I used a coupon that was in the Sunday paper for 20% off any one item. Since the Roomba was about $300, I saved about $60, which is a lot of money (both to spend and to save!) But I am thinking the purchase will be worth it because right now I could use the help with the house cleaning!

Today I went grocery shopping and saved $20 on the items that we bought. These items were things that we actually use everyday. I’m so glad that I can save money that way.

Lots of help out there

Mary Anne — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 23:47:44 +0000

Post by Linda Washington

When I was a teenager, my parents refused to let me go to college to pursue the degree that I wanted to go after. They said that it was more important for my brothers to get their college degrees, and that they expected me to go to secretarial school to become a secretary and then fall in love with (and marry) the wealthy boss of the company that I would be working at.

The school counselors were of absolutely no assistance whatsover in helping me to look for any kind of financial aid information; saying that if my parents did not want me to go to college then there really was nothing that I could do about it. (This was back in the dark ages of the 1970′s when women were still second class citizens.)

Well, let me tell you women out there – the times have changed drastically! Finding grants and scholarships have become very easy with the use of the Internet. I swear that I was born before my time, because now it is so simple to find grants for just about any subject. My youngest son was given several grants for engineers so he could pursue his engineering degree, and I’m helping my niece look for physical therapy student grants so she can pursue a career in physical therapy.

I have to admit, that I am very jealous of the opportunities these young people have that I never had.