modern_pioneer
Mountain Man
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2009
- Messages
- 1,394
- Reaction score
- 15
- Points
- 192
- Location
- In the woods with the critters
It sure beats a bump on a log and good for nothing......Blackbird said:
Oh wait, I said work......
:bun
Saving (not spending) vs spending.....the real costs & savings
- Thread starter freemotion
- Start date
Oh wait, I said work......
:bun
Blackbird
Goat Whisperer
I meant the ass chewing. I've been yelled at enough in my life that I would whole-heartedly quit any job that I had if it meant getting yelled at over the littlest thing or by someone who was power-playing. Foolish and off the edge perhaps, but a lot of people don't need that in their lives, including me. 
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
I LOVEBlackbird said:
your sense of humor, BB!!! 
Yep, that would make me want to step up to the job also.....
I get you on this, Free. I, too, feel like I am actually earning by not spending. If you factor in the average spending of the average family on the average income....well, we are making a butt load of money by not being average!
The money we save by making/growing our own...considerable.
The money we save by maintaining better health by eating these foods...priceless, but still has a worth amount.
The money we save on frugality...very considerable!
Now take all that money saved, put it in an interest bearing account or CDs and you have some real profit.
I don't consider the average American extremely extravegant by anyone's standards....except ours. Because we choose to not be the average Joe, we have chosen to save=earn money instead of constantly losing money.
I don't call that creative accounting at all. In any business, money not outgoing where it is usually outgoing, would be totaled up at the end as part of the profits vs.loss.
How you do this has a lot to do with what is going on with your peoples regular employment, be it you or your spouse, do you have a large tax liability? are you gonna use your house as a business place? Unless there are large sums of money involved don't use a partial home percentage as a business venture - yes you can write off the entire amount but then you will need an accountant to recalculate the basis of the selling price of the house when that happens and can get ugly.
Best bet is to file schedule C along with your regular form 1040 and write off all the normal office equipment and such, that is easy and usually doesn't raise a flag, even so you will have a document book covering all the facts.
Case in point - the last several years I ran a computer shop, but because I never reported enough money in any given year I did not write off the $20,000 in equipment, but before moving I took a job making a fair amount and paying close to $18,000 in taxes, when I quit I wrote all that equipment costs off - including every stamp or pencil used - That year I got every dollar I paid in - back. Remember I timed it right, if you don't make anything then you get nothing.
Best bet is to file schedule C along with your regular form 1040 and write off all the normal office equipment and such, that is easy and usually doesn't raise a flag, even so you will have a document book covering all the facts.
Case in point - the last several years I ran a computer shop, but because I never reported enough money in any given year I did not write off the $20,000 in equipment, but before moving I took a job making a fair amount and paying close to $18,000 in taxes, when I quit I wrote all that equipment costs off - including every stamp or pencil used - That year I got every dollar I paid in - back. Remember I timed it right, if you don't make anything then you get nothing.
- Thread starter
- #15
freemotion
Food Guru
MP, the job offer sounds tempting, but there are still elderberries to pick and process here. Sorry, no time! And my butt is not calloused enough for that job....it ain't been chewed out in many, many years! Oh, I take that back....I do have one "job" that I do for four hours a week when I teach....got chewed out bigtime when I "blew off" a class when Mya decided to give birth to a mal-presented gigantic buckling a few minutes before I needed to leave for school! (I'd arranged a sub, but he threw me under the bus. Love corporate life. Wish I were in it 36 more hours per week....)
I've filed a Schedule C for many years.....the only way to go! We pay our taxes quarterly with the money from the teaching job, which is direct-deposited into an account just for that. So we never have a quarter where money for taxes went to pay some bill.
The trouble with the massage therapy business is that there are only so many massages in your hands (I make a lot per hour, but can only work so many hours), and when the economy turns, it is one of the first things to go for many people. Things will change, but it is slow right now. Normally, I could pick up some extra classes to teach, but of course, I got in trouble so I am actually not teaching at all for a semester!
So we tighten our belts and I work to save money from dawn until well after dark.
BTW, I never got take-out every day and spent money at Starbucks maybe three times in my life, and only because I was with someone who insisted that we stop there. And I am not in psychotherapy, although there are some who insist that I should be!
But the savings vs spending thing is a fun exercise. Yes, I could make a lot more money by working at a job, but who would trade that for spending an hour cleaning the kitchen after the Giant Buttermilk Explosion of '09?
And my butt is not calloused enough for that job....it ain't been chewed out in many, many years! Oh, I take that back....I do have one "job" that I do for four hours a week when I teach....got chewed out bigtime when I "blew off" a class when Mya decided to give birth to a mal-presented gigantic buckling a few minutes before I needed to leave for school! (I'd arranged a sub, but he threw me under the bus. Love corporate life. Wish I were in it 36 more hours per week....)I've filed a Schedule C for many years.....the only way to go! We pay our taxes quarterly with the money from the teaching job, which is direct-deposited into an account just for that. So we never have a quarter where money for taxes went to pay some bill.
The trouble with the massage therapy business is that there are only so many massages in your hands (I make a lot per hour, but can only work so many hours), and when the economy turns, it is one of the first things to go for many people. Things will change, but it is slow right now. Normally, I could pick up some extra classes to teach, but of course, I got in trouble so I am actually not teaching at all for a semester!
So we tighten our belts and I work to save money from dawn until well after dark.
BTW, I never got take-out every day and spent money at Starbucks maybe three times in my life, and only because I was with someone who insisted that we stop there. And I am not in psychotherapy, although there are some who insist that I should be!
But the savings vs spending thing is a fun exercise. Yes, I could make a lot more money by working at a job, but who would trade that for spending an hour cleaning the kitchen after the Giant Buttermilk Explosion of '09?
WoW - you answered the last 13 posts in one breath, 6 paragraphs and 13 commas - mind you 3 periods are considered maximum ... other than that whose counting. If you know all this then what is your question?
- Thread starter
- #17
freemotion
Food Guru
I really had no question, it was more of a discussion. I did wonder if my math was correct....usually, someone with accounting knowlege will jump in.
enjoy the ride
Sufficient Life
What an innovative concept- Does this mean I can say I saved a billion dollars by NOT buying that suplus stealth bomber?patandchickens said:Any more than I am "saving" ten million dollars, plus probably a million or so a year, by not owning a chateau in the south of France
Pat
Oh, wait- Congress already employs this accounting method- darn..........
me&thegals
A Major Squash & Pumpkin Lover
My kids, too. As in, "Mom--since I didn't blow my whole allowance on gum, now I can blow it all on toys instead!"
As in, "Mom--since I didn't blow my whole allowance on gum, now I can blow it all on toys instead!"
chipmunk
Lovin' The Homestead
I like to do accounting like that, only on a smaller scale.
For example, every week that I convince myself to forgo stopping to buy the Sunday paper after church, I put the $1.50 I would have spent on that in a container in my bathroom drawer and, voila, after about 14 weeks I've got enough saved up (just in time) to resole my shoes.
I know it's really just shuffling resources around, but there's something to be said for not having to account to the government for every penny saved so that they can find a way to tax that, too. Very honest, but makes me feel so...well... productive!
For example, every week that I convince myself to forgo stopping to buy the Sunday paper after church, I put the $1.50 I would have spent on that in a container in my bathroom drawer and, voila, after about 14 weeks I've got enough saved up (just in time) to resole my shoes.
I know it's really just shuffling resources around, but there's something to be said for not having to account to the government for every penny saved so that they can find a way to tax that, too. Very honest, but makes me feel so...well... productive!
