I will never forget that phone call. I knew this moment would eventually be here, but in the back of my mind I pretended if I didn’t think about it, things would eventually work out. We would just make more money. Someday we would pay off that balance. We could start saving next year. What’s the worst that can really happen, right?

Just a few minutes before the phone call, my wife Andrea was at the grocery store with our 10-month old son. Whenever she is out in public, people immediately recognize her as the morning-show news anchor from our city’s local news stations. Today was of course no different.

At the checkout, Andrea waited for each item to go across the scanner and into the bag. The total came to just over $150, which for our family of three was the standard going rate for a week of groceries, diapers, and formula. She handed her credit card over to the cashier and it was DECLINED. The second card DECLINED. The third card DECLINED.

The day was February 23rd, 2011: The Day We Went Completely Broke

Our Debt Free Success Story

Before I share with you our story, please understand that we were absolutely crazy about getting out of debt. We we “those” people who maybe took it to the extreme (okay, we did).

Paying off $52k in 7 months is not normal and we wouldn’t expect anyone to think it is.

However, we are sharing our story in hopes of one outcome: you make the decision to become debt free forever.

Going Broke

The next day when I came home from the fire station, Andrea and I sat down at the kitchen table and began to unravel this dirty little secret we were not only keeping from everyone else, but we were also keeping from ourselves.

It started the moment we left college and entered the real world. I joined the fire department and Andrea landed her dream job with the local television station. Not to brag, but the reality was we were young, we were making a six figure salary, and we didn’t have kids (yet). Life was easy…or so we thought.

As you can imagine, we started off life completely normal according to society standards. We bought a brand new truck, a luxury car, a new home, and all the bells and whistles to go inside.

Traveling was our kryptonite and we said “yes” to everything.

Whether it was lavish vacations, cruising the Caribbean, buying expensive jewelry – the answer was always “yes”.

After four years of living paycheck to paycheck, overspending, overindulging, and not paying attention to our money, we financially hit rock bottom. We had maxed out our credit cards, overdrafted the checking account, and had never thought to build up a savings account. All we had left to show for our financial stupidity was $52k of debt and a ton of shame.

“We Will NEVER Live This Way Again”

I remember sitting there at the kitchen table staring down at the floor in disbelief. Did we really let it get this bad? Were we so foolish to think the debt would never catch us from behind? How did this happen? Why did it seem like everyone else had it figured out, but yet we were sitting here flat broke?

To make things worse, we started worrying about the reaction from our friends and family. What were they going to think of us if they knew the truth? Would we tell them and how would they react? What about our son Carter? If we couldn’t even afford our family at this point in our lives, what would happen as life progressed, became more complicated, and much more expensive?

All of these emotions came crashing down into our pseudo-perfect world and that was when we finally had to face reality. It was now or never.

That was the moment when we both said:

“We will never live this way again”

• Never again will we make this much money and be this broke.
• We will never again be unable to buy groceries.
• The days of us sitting here at this very kitchen table completely out of money, out of hope, and without a plan will NEVER happen again.

That day would be known as day one of our own debt free success story.

We Created A Plan

The only good thing about hitting rock bottom is you have nowhere else to go but up. One of my favorite quotes by John Maxwell is this:

“Everything worthwhile in life is uphill.”

This saying became our motto. If living paycheck to paycheck, going deeper into debt, and overspending was easy, then the opposite would have to be true. Taking back control of our life and money was going to be hard. Period.

A Cash-Flow Plan

The first thing we needed to do was to figure out how to manage the money coming in and going out each month. Many people call this a “budget”, but we preferred to call it a cash-flow plan.

Why?

It’s simple really: budgets sound like prison food and water and a cash flow plan sounds like something Andrea and I would be willing to do together.

The Envelope System

We knew our spending habits were out of control. It was almost as if we had to order new credit cards throughout the year because we wore out those magnetic strips from overuse (not really, but you get the point).

We decided we would go to an all cash lifestyle.

Andrea and I became one of those weird people who carry around cash in envelopes and only spend what was inside each envelope for the month. When the envelope ran out of cash, we stopped spending.

I believe they call this “common sense”

Stop Borrowing Money (Forever)

We realized it would be impossible to dig our way out of debt so we decided at that moment we would never borrow money again. Never. Not for a couch, a car, a vacation, or even a house (luckily we already had a mortgage).

We were done playing with debt. We had been told in the past debt was a tool. Well, I believe it can be a tool for some people, but for Andrea and I, debt was a tool that created a disaster in our lives. We can admit it – we don’t manage debt very well. The choice became ours: we would never play with debt again. Period.

Sitting at our kitchen table, we one-by-one cut up every single one of our credit cards. It was scary, we were a little freaked out (okay, really freaked out), but it was also one of the most freeing moments I can remember in our little debt free story.

Cut Back Our Life(style)

When you’re completely broke, it doesn’t really make sense to have wants over needs. One of my favorite quotes from Seth Godin is this:

“Once you have enough money for beans and rice and taking care of your family, money is a story.” 

– Seth Godin

I hadn’t heard this quote until just recently, but it struck a nerve with me right away because money was our story. We had to decide what our story would be. Would it be a story of struggle or a story of freedom? Would it be a story of stressing over every bill each month, or would it be a story of financial peace?

We made the decision to change the ending to our story. Things were about to go from wild to almost out of control.

We sold (just about) everything

From clothes, to furniture, to pictures on the walls, shoes, textbooks, and even Andrea’s luxury SUV.

We turned off our cable and purchased this HD antenna. We cancelled subscription services we had forgot we subscribed to and we began saving money in any areas we could think of.

Lowered The Interest

We had spent so long ignoring the reality of our debt, we really had no idea how much we were paying towards our debt or how much we had been paying in interest.

Once we realized we were overpaying interest with both credit cards and student loans, we started to look at ways we could lower the interest rate. One of they key things we quickly learned was debt consolidation didn’t really do much for our money except make it convenient to have only one payment with an average interest rate and a small fee tacked on.

If you get out a calculator, it is obvious debt consolidation is a CONsolidation.

But, we knew we could save a ton of money with a lower interest rate.

We lowered the student loan interest rate by 3% and dropped our credit card interest in half with a personal loan.

Make More Money (Side Hustle)

Since we were no longer using our free time to spend money, we decided we would spend our free time making money.

I started a pool cleaning service in our neighborhood and was able to generate $1,000 – $1,500 extra every month.

Cleaning pools during the Phoenix summers of 118°F was not at all fun, but neither was remaining in debt. I did other odd jobs and worked as much overtime on the fire truck as they would allow. The best place to go when you’re completely broke……to work.

If you’re not into cleaning pools in the hot summer (I don’t blame you at all), there are plenty of ways to make money from home! Here a list of over 70+ different side hustles to start making extra cash right now.

November 17th, 2011

There are four days I will always remember for the rest of my life. The first is the day I watched my beautiful wife walk down the aisle. It’s still the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

The second and third days were when our kids were born. No dad will ever forget that moment.

The fourth day was November 17th, 2011. This was the day we paid off our debt.

We jumped in our slightly used Kia and drove down to the Bank of America near our home. Our remaining balance was $1,272 and we had the money in our account to finally pay off this last chunk.

I remember pulling up to the bank and my heart was racing.

I grabbed my checkbook, Andrea’s hand, and we walked in side-by-side just like we had been doing over the past seven months. There was a small line to see the teller and both of us were standing in line, huge smiles from ear-to-ear, and giggling like a couple of school girls on the playground.

The teller waived us over and it was time.

It was our turn.

All the sacrificing, all the eBay and Craigslisting, all the overtime, all those days cleaning pools in the summer heat, all the whispers from the family, and not to mention the overflow of straight up rude comments from our friends, would all be coming to an end.

This was the moment Chris and Andrea would become debt free.

I opened my checkbook, put my pen to the paper, tore out the check and handed it over to the teller. She handed back our receipt with our new balance: $0.00 PAID IN FULL.

#boomshakalaka  (you won’t see that anywhere else…)

What is Life Look Like Today?

My amazing wife Andrea was able to retire from her career as a television news anchor and be home for her family more than she ever thought possible.

She took her passion of journaling and turned it into a thriving business. 

I still work for the fire department, however I don’t work as much overtime anymore because we don’t have debt payments anymore.

Instead, we are investing heavily and have even taken up on passive income strategies.

None of this would have ever been possible if we had remained in debt.

Period.

“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t….you’re right”

-Henry Ford

Obviously there is much more to our story, but we would need a book and a publisher to put it all in writing. However, if you’re looking to get started, my best piece of advice is this: don’t wait another second. Just get started.

If you don’t know where to start, I would encourage you to take the first step.

Start with a Cash Flow Plan.

It’s step-by-step, easy-to-follow, and something I promise you will get a ton of value from.

And it’s free.

What is the one thing you can do today to move your life in the direction you want to go?

It starts with that first step.

Life is good awesome my friends,

-Chris Peach

I’ll agree with you that writing a paper check is definitely an old-school way of sending and receiving money. Especially now with all the ways of sending money through our mobile apps, filling out a check seems a little archaic.

However, just like everyone probaby at least know how to drive a stick shift, you should also know how to fill out a check.

And if you think checks are obsolete, think again. A report done by the Federal Reserve reveals that there were 14.5 billion check payments in 2018!

With that said, let’s learn how to fill out a check.

How to Fill Out a Check in 6 Steps

As you can see in the image above, we have labeld numbers one through six when it comes to filling out a check. Let’s get started with the very first step when it comes to filling out a check.

Step 1: Note The Check Number

To balance your checkbook and also make sure you didn’t misplace any checks, it’s important to notate the check number.

The check number is in the upper right hand corner of the check and usually the bottom right as well.

Most people don’t write this down but it can be a huge pain if something happens after you give the check away.

If you need to stop payment or want to track the check you will need to know the check number. Plus, when you reorder checks, you’ll want to know which number to start off with so you don’t duplicate previous checks you’ve written.

Step 2: Date The Check (Correctly)

The second step to learn how to fill out a check is to ensure that you date the check.

The date section is also found in the upper right hand corner of the check. Make sure to write the full date out next to or above the word DATE.

Any format works for the date as well. You could write it out as:

• 5/18/22
• May 18th, 2022
• 18/5/22

I recommend that you always make the date of each check the same structure for your own benefit. In case you have fraud it will be easy to figure out who wrote the date in a different style.

One of the biggest mistakes people make when filling out a check is forgetting the date or marking the wrong date.

This is a common mistake in January as people still mark the prior year. Plus, if you accidentally put a future date your recipient won’t be able to cash the check until then. This can be extremely frustrating for both parties.

But, if you have spoken with the recipient you can choose to post date the check for a future date. This is a good idea if you’re waiting for money to be deposited into your account on a specific date.

This ensures you won’t have any overdraw or declined check transaction fees. It also gives the recipient piece of mind you intend to pay as they already have a signed check in their possession.

Note: If this is something you plan on doing be sure to alert the recipient in advance.

Step 3: Write Out the Name of the Recipient

Next up, you will need to write out the name of the person or business you are paying (also known as the recipient).

Below the date you will see the main line which says, “Pay to the order of” or simply “Pay to.”

If you are writing the check to one person, several people, or a company you can write all the details here. The most important part about this step is ensuring that your handwriting is legible and that you spell the name (or names) correctly.

Some banks will not accept the check if it is misspelled and even have an additional fee for the inconvenience.

Before you fill out the check make sure you clarify with the recipient how to spell the name and/or business organization. If you are writing to a person clarify their full name as some people go by shortened versions or nicknames.

If you are writing a check to a business, ensure if they have any abbreviations after the business name like LLC.

Also, you can address the check simply to “cash.” Only do this if you know who the person is.

Important! Once you write out “cash” anyone that finds the check would be able to cash it.

Step 4: Write the Correct Dollar Amount

Once you’ve notated the check number and filled out the date and the recipient, you need to write out the exact dollar amount.

This will be done two different ways; both with numbers and words.

4a. Write Out The Dollar Amount in Numbers

To the right of the “pay to” line there will be a box and dollar sign where you write in the amount. If you are paying $1,250 you will simply write 1,250 next to the dollar sign ($). If your dollar amount includes change you need to notate this properly as well. Make sure to use commas and periods as needed.

4b. Write Out The Dollar Amount in Words

This seems to be the part that most people mess up when filling out a check.

After you’ve written out the amount in numbers you need to communicate this with words as well. This ensures there are no mistakes on the total amount of the check.

Below the “pay to” line there will be another blank line to write out the dollar amount.

If the total amount is $1,250 you would write out, “One thousand two hundred fifty.”

A good rule of thumb to remember is to say the amount out loud. You also have the option to hyphenate between each word or choose not too. This is entirely at your discretion.

Another area where people tend to get it wrong is only having the partial dollar amount. For example, if your amount was $1,250.75 you would write out “One thousand two hundred fifty” and then put the amount as a fraction (75/100).

One thousand two hundred fifty dollars and 75/100.

It might help to think of partial dollar amounts as percentages. Never write the words “cents” on your check as it is already implied by the format of X/100.

To avoid any confusion make sure you write this amount in smaller numbers above the main payment amount.

Step 5: Write What the Check is For

Now that the hardest part is over you only have a few steps left.

Next, in the lower left-hand side of the check, you can write out what the check is payment for. This isn’t necessary to fill out but can give you more of an idea for your own personal tracking.

For example, if you were paying for your membership you could write in, “July, Membership Fees.”

If you are writing this check in-person, make sure to ask the recipient if they want it left blank. Some establishments will write in your membership number, last four of your SSN, or some other system that they use internally.

Step 6 (Final Step): Sign the Check

YOU MUST SIGN THE CHECK!

The line is in the lower right-hand corner of the check is for YOUR signature. All you need to do is sign your name next to the word SIGNATURE.

While this is a relatively simple step, it is also one of the most common errors. If you forget to sign the check this completely voids the entire process.

If you don’t sign the check then the financial institutions will not be able to process it, and this goes for mobile deposits as well.

This is a huge pain if you physically send the check off and the recipient can’t cash it.

Make sure you always sign the check. Don’t worry much about signature as it’s more of a formality than something they evaluate too closely.

Congrats, you know how to fill out a check!

Once you get in the habit of filling out a check it will become second nature to you. While the steps are straightforward there are tons of frequently asked questions you might encounter.

12 Most FAQ’s About Filling Out a Check

1. Can I write a check to myself?

Yes, you can write a check to yourself.

Sometimes this is a great idea if you have several banks and don’t want to worry about ATM fees or wire transfers. In this case, you would write “cash” or your name on the “pay to” line.

Be sure to check with your bank to see which option they prefer. You would then sign the back of the check as the endorser as well.

I would recommend only doing this if you are already physically in the bank or ready to make a mobile deposit right away.

Rember, if you make the check out to cash and then lose it, then anyone who has the check can cash it right away.

2. How do I void a check?

Voiding a check is super easy.

To void a check simply write VOID in large letters across the check. Other people will write “VOID” over the date, pay to, memo, signature, and dollar amount fields. Either way works.

To play it safe I recommending destroying the check just in case something happens. I would also notate this in your checkbook so you don’t think you misplaced one blank check.

3. Can I write a check with a pencil?

You can, but don’t do it.

There isn’t an official policy when it comes to pen or pencil, however I will tell you this: NEVER write a check in pencil. You are much better off writing the check in pen so it cannot be altered.

Also, NEVER use red ink because it shows up as blank in the bank’s computer system and is then automatically sent to the fraud unit. Only use blue or black ink.

Also, avoid thick sharpies and similar pens as they can bleed through to the back of the check. This might make it hard for the recipient if they are using mobile app deposits.

4. Should I write on the back of the check?

Not if you are the one cutting the check. You will only sign the back of the check if someone is paying you for something. If this is the case make sure you sign legibly by the X and nothing more.

There is usually a “Do Not Write Below This Line” and is generally used for banking purposes. Make sure to not write out your name or anything else in this space.

Depending on your banking institution, you might need to write something if you are depositing the check from your mobile app. Again, this is very rare and might void the check. Be sure to follow instructions with your banking institution.

5. What if I make a mistake when filling out the check?

If you make an error on the check don’t panic. I would avoid crossing things out as that might look like you are voiding the check and instead, try to write over it.

Remember that if you misspell the name by something small you should be fine.

6. Can I postdate a check?

Yes, you can postdate a check if needed.

As I mentioned in Step 2, the person with the check will not be able to cash the check until the future date. It is a good idea if you waiting for sufficient funds to hit your bank account.

Again, make sure you speak with the recipient as it can be awkward if they try to cash it before the correct date. Plus, there is no guarantee that the bank doesn’t cash it sooner. Even with technology, people still make mistakes including cashing checks earlier than intended.

If this happens you might be hit with overdraft fees as well. Play it safe and wait until you have sufficient funds in your account instead of postdating.

7. What are the most common mistakes when writing a check?

You’re human, mistakes happen. Especially when it comes to filling out a check as it is such a rare occurrence these days.

The most common errors include:

• Forgetting to sign the check. Remember if you forget to sign the check it is invalid until you have signed.
• Dollar fields don’t match. As I outlined in Step 4, you need to write out in words and dollar amount. If these fields don’t match banks may decline them.
• Writing the wrong date. This happens frequently after New Year’s as people forget it’s a new year.
• Accidentally signing the back of the check. You might forget that you wrote the check and signing it will instantly void it.

8. Is a personal check a certified check?

No, a personal check is NOT a certified check.

A certified check is done by computer and filled out at the bank. In the rare instance I ever need a check I choose to do this because I personally don’t like spending money ordering new checks.

The main difference with a certified check is that you need to ensure you have sufficient funds the day the check is dated. Otherwise, the bank will not cut the check.

With commercial checks, they immediately withdraw the funds from your bank. Be careful with these as you can’t void them like a normal personal check.

A certified check is usually needed for specific purchases and loans. For example, when I bought a house I needed to bring the earnest money as a certified check.

This could also happen if you are buying something more expensive like a car. Even random transactions like paying for a passport may need a certified check.

9. Can I write more than one name on a check?

Yes, you can write several names on a check but there is a catch.

For example, let’s say you are writing a check to Tony and Jane Smith for their wedding. If you write next to the pay to “Tony Smith and Jane Smith” they will both have to endorse the check. It won’t be valid if only one or other signs the back to deposit or cash.

A better option is to use the word “or.” Write out “Tony Smith or Jane Smith” and only one of them will need to endorse the check.

10. Why do I need to write numbers as words on my checks?

This is a great question!

As you remember, you write out the total dollar amount in both words and with numbers. However, the dollar amount written in numbers is known as a courtesy amount, but the written words are actually the legal amount owed.

If there was ever a legal dispute you would be required to pay what is written in words over the numerical amount. They are small details but they could cost you big time. Make sure you write out the exact amount in both words and numbers.

11. What do all the numbers on my check mean?

On the bottom of your checks you should see three distinct numbers:

• Routing number. This is the nine-digit number on the bottom left side of the check and is specific to your bank. You can think of it as your bank’s personal identification number and is only unique to your bank or credit union. If you are signing up for direct deposit you would include this and your account number.

• Bank account number. This is the specific number to identify the actual checking or savings account assigned to you at the bank or credit union. This appears in the bottom-middle of the check.

• Check number. This is usually a 4 digit number that comes after your account number and is also found in the top right-hand section of the check. It’s a good idea to notate the check number in your checkbook in case any future disputes occur.

Note: In the above example, the last four at the bottom of the check would also match the 5719 at the top right corner of the check.

Make sure that you do not write over any of these numbers or cover them in any way.

12. Does it really matter if I write the check correctly?

Yes, for several reasons. First, if you don’t fill out a check correctly the other bank can choose to not accept the check.

Not only will the recipient be frustrated but you might have to pay fees for your error.

Returned check fees aren’t cheap either! Similar to overdrawing a debit card, these fees can range between $15-$40 depending on your institution.

Take the extra few minutes to make sure you filled out everything properly and don’t’ waste money on something silly.

13. What are some good alternatives to writing checks?

Today, there are a ton of great ways to send money via your mobile app. From Zelle to Venmo and The Cash App to PayPal, you can quickly and easily send money in lieu of writing a check in a matter of seconds.

Final Thoughts

Only write a check if you absolutely have to.

Unfortunately checks are becoming less used over time as our banking needs rely more on technology and mobile banking versus walking into a bank and cashing a check.

However, it’s still a good skill to have because when all else fails, you can still write a check at the end of the day.

Beyond the Bank

Although nearly 95% of American households have at least one bank account, this also means there are still millions of Americans without one.

Therefore, this makes cashing a check very difficult for millions of Americans.

In fact, many banks aren’t willing to cash a check for you if you don’t have a bank account because it makes it difficult to track you down if the check is returned invalid.

While it can be tough to cash a check without a bank account, there are several companies who will (usually for a fee) happily cash your check and give you money on the spot. You can also read this article for ways to cash a check after hours.

Top Places to Cash a Personal Check Beyond the Bank

Starting off is the list of the most common and accessible places to cash a personal check. Chances are you will have one of these places near where you live.

1. Walmart

These days you can find a Walmart location – or several – in almost any city. Walmart usually has great prices on everything – including check cashing. They charge just $4 to cash a check with a value of under $1,000. For checks with values of $1,000 and over, they charge a $8 check cashing fee.

When you cash a check at Walmart you can get the actual cash amount or a Walmart Moneycard for that amount – the choice is yours.

Types of Checks They’ll Cash

Walmart will cash a variety of different types of checks including:

• Pre-printed checks
• Payroll checks
• Government checks
• Tax checks
• Cashiers checks
• Insurance settlement checks
• 401k and other retirement distribution checks
• MoneyGram money orders 
• Two-party personal checks (up to $200)

Note: The monetary limit for each check they’ll cash is $5,000, and $7,500 during tax season (January through April). Also, some Walmart check cashing rules are subject to change based on the state’s individual laws and regulations.

Read more about Walmart’s check cashing services here.

2. Regions Bank Branch Locations

Regions Bank has many bank locations throughout the United States where they’ll offer their check cashing services. They will charge you between 1.5% and 4% of the value of the check they cash for you, depending on the type of check.

Types of Checks They’ll Cash

Regions will cash a variety of checks – even checks that aren’t drawn on Regions Bank. Some of the types of checks they’ll cash include:

• Government and Printed Payroll Checks – 1.5% of check amount with minimum $5 fee
• Handwritten two-party consumer, business checks and Money Orders – 4% of check amount with minimum $5 fee

Read more about cashing your checks at Regions Bank or finding a Regions bank location here.

3. The Issuing Bank or Credit Union

In most cases you can cash a check at the bank the check was issued by. You can find this information on the check itself. So, if the check has Wells Fargo listed as its maker, you can often cash it by going into any Wells Fargo branch location.

Also, while cashing a check at the issuing bank doesn’t usually carry a fee (although some banks do charge for check cashing if you don’t have a checking or savings account with them), there can be other restrictions such as hold times.

Each bank has varying terms and conditions for cashing checks, even if those checks are issued by them.

Note: You will need a valid photo ID such as a government issued identification card, a state driver’s license or a passport. Other types of IDs may be accepted as well.

Your Local Grocery Store

Grocery stores all over the country offer check cashing services for people. The type of checks your local grocery store will cash can vary, but most all grocery stores that offer check cashing services will cash government-issued checks and payroll checks from companies in their area.

Fees will vary as well depending on the store. While you may not find available check cashing services at smaller mom-and pop type grocery stores, you can usually find them at bigger stores.

Here are some of the bigger grocery store chains that offer check cashing services (services may vary by location).

5. Kroger

Kroger also offers check cashing services for the following types of checks:

• Payroll Checks
• Government Checks
• Income Tax Refund
• Insurance Settlement
• Business Checks
• Child Support Checks

Just bring your ID with you and you can cash a check at any participating Kroger store even if you don’t have a bank account.

You can see the details about Kroger check cashing services here.

6. Publix

Publix stores are located throughout the East Coast including Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and more. According to their website, Publix will cash payroll checks as well as personal checks.

Their website doesn’t say anything about cashing government issued checks at all. They sell money orders but will not cash them. Go here to find a Publix location near you.

7. Walmart

We referenced this above for the most part, but Walmart will cash payroll checks as well as government checks, cashier’s checks and others. Go here to find a Walmart location near you.

8. Albertson’s

Albertson’s stores are located in states throughout the United States, including Colorado, Arizona, California, Florida, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming.

They will generally cash most electronically signed checks such as payroll checks and government checks, but won’t cash personal checks. The maximum size check amount they’ll cash is $1,000.

Go here to find an Albertson’s location near you.

9. Winn Dixie

Winn Dixie has locations throughout Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Mississipi. They have a pretty limited check cashing policy. Checks that are payroll checks no more than $500 may be cashed at certain locations, so you’ll have to visit or call an individual store to find out more.

Go here to find a Winn Dixie location near you.

10. WinCo

WinCo stores are located primarily on the West Coast including California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Arizona and Nevada. They also have a few stores in Oklahoma and Texas.

WinCo does have a $1,000 limit on their check cashing services. Call or visit your local store to find out more. Go here to find a WinCo location near you.

11. Stop and Shop

Stop and Shop stores are located primarily in the Northeastern United States. Most store locations will cash government checks and payroll checks, and the check amount limit is $500 maximum with a $0.50 fee.

Go here to find a Stop and Shop location near you.

12. HyVee

HyVee grocery stores are located primarily in the Midwest area, with stores located in Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

Check cashing services, limits and fees vary depending on the store location. Go here to find a HyVee store near you.

13. Food City

Food City locations are also available in various places in the U.S., including Arizona and Kentucky. As with Albertson’s, they generally will cash electronically signed checks such as payroll checks and government checks.

They also have a list of approved rebate checks they’ll cash. Maximum check amount is $1,000 with a $3 fee per check. Go here to find a Food City location near you.

You’ll likely need a government ID to cash checks at your local grocery store, and you should expect to pay some type of a fee as well.

Related Post: Top 7 Places to Cash a Money Order

Check Cashing Businesses

There are also a myriad of check cashing businesses that will cash a check for you – for a fee. The fees they charge and the types of checks they cash vary with each individual company, and sometimes with each individual location.

Here is some information on some of the more popular check cashing stores around the United States.

14. Ace Cash Express

Ace Cash Express says they’ll cash most any check as long as you bring it in with a valid photo ID such as a government issued driver’s license or other ID. Some of the types of checks they’ll cash include:

• Payroll checks
• Insurance settlement checks
• Money orders
• Personal checks
• Checks made payable to a company
• Income tax refund checks
• Government checks

And others. They also state they’ll cash checks of any amount, however there is a disclaimer stating that the checks they cash are subject to terms and conditions approval. Fees on check cashing services aren’t listed directly on their website.

In order to find out what they’ll charge to cash a specific check you’ll need to visit a store location.

Read more about cashing checks at Ace Cash Express here.

15. The Check Cashing Store

The Check Cashing Store is available to Floridians only at the moment. Information on their website regarding their services is limited, but it does state that they cash payroll checks, government issued checks, personal checks (they’ll be verified by a call to the issuing bank), insurance checks, small business checks and money orders.

Check out The Check Cashing Store for more information on locations and the services they offer, as well as potential fees they’ll charge for cashing your checks.

16. Friendly Check Cashing

Friendly Check Cashing stores are available largely in the North Carolina area. The types of checks they’ll cash include:

• Payroll checks
• Government issued checks
• Insurance checks
• 401k checks
• Cashier’s checks
• Money orders
• Tax refund checks
• Personal checks
• Checks made out to a business

And possibly more. One thing that might be not so friendly about Friendly Check Cashing services is their fee – as much as 10% at many locations. Yikes. You’ll need to have a valid photo ID to cash your check there as well, although the website doesn’t indicate what qualifies as valid.

For more information, check out Friendly Check Cashing here.

17. Check Into Cash

According to their website, Check into Cash has more than 1,000 retail locations for check cashing and other monetary services. Check into Cash store locations cash many varying kinds of checks including:

• Printed or handwritten payroll checks
• Government checks
• Tax refund checks
• Some personal checks
• Cashier’s checks
• Money orders
• Insurance checks

And more. Check limits as well as fees charged vary by location. Go here to find a Check into Cash location near you.

18. PLS Check Cashing

PLS Check Cashing stores are available throughout the United States. You can find stores in Arizona, Indiana, New York, Oklahoma, California, Kentucky, North Carolina, Texas, Illinois, Massachusetts, Ohio and Wisconsin.

According to their website, they cash a number of different types of checks including:

• Payroll checks
• Personal checks
• Government checks
•  Out-of-State checks
• Money orders

And more. One nice thing about PLS Check Cashing is that they have lower fees for certain types of checks. Their website indicates that they’ll only charge 1% plus $1 for recurring in-state payroll checks and government checks up to $1500.

Rates for cashing other types of checks, according to their site, will vary based on check type and other risk factors. Individual store sites can give you more information on cashing other types of checks through PLS.

19. The Money Mart

The Money Mart has dozens of locations throughout California, Arizona and some in other states as well. They cash a variety of different types of checks such as:

• Payroll
• Government
• Small business
• Personal
• Insurance checks
• Money orders

And more. Their check cashing fees aren’t listed on their website, so you’ll have to call or visit a store location to find out more.

20. Advance Financial

Advance Financial has branch locations for check cashing throughout Tennessee, currently serving over 80 locations. Their website says they cash all types of checks, including:

• Personal checks
• Payroll checks
• Insurance checks
• Cashier’s checks
• Government checks
• Money orders

And more. And they’ll give you cash on the spot according to their advertising. Their fees are regulated by the state of Tennessee and start at 1%.

It looks like the fees currently top out at 10%, although there is a minimum fee charge for checks as well, so that could increase your fee depending on the dollar amount of the check you’re cashing with them.

21. Check Smart

Check Smart is a service of Community Choice Financial. You can find locations throughout California. They cash a variety of check types including:

• Payroll checks
• Personal checks
• Refund checks
• Government checks

And more in some cases, depending on the type of check. They don’t specify fee amounts, but you can call or stop in to find out more. Another bonus feature with these guys is that some of the stores are open 24 hours. Since banks generally run limited business hours, this could be a benefit to many people.

22. Speedy Cash

Speedy Cash has locations throughout the United States. They specialize in loans but offer check cashing services at many of their stores as well. Their website didn’t indicate which branch locations offer check cashing services, so you’ll probably need to call or stop into a location near you to find out more.

The types of checks they cash include:

• Payroll checks
• Government checks
• Money orders
• Personal checks
• Cashier’s checks

And possibly other types of checks. Their website states they cash checks in any amount. They’re not clear about fees, simply because they do business in a variety of states and each state generally has its own individual rules about how much a check cashing service company can charge in terms of fees.

You’ll have to go to your nearby Speedy Cash location or call them directly to find out more.

23. United Check Cashing

United Check Cashing locations are centered primarily around the East Coast in states such as Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Delaware, however they also have locations in other states around the country including Texas, Michigan, Ohio and Florida.

The types of checks they cash include:

• Payroll checks
• Government issued benefits checks
• Insurance checks
• Business & commercial checks
• Tax refunds
• Rebate checks

And possibly more depending on the type of check. They’ll also consider cashing checks made payable to your business according to their website.

Fees vary by state, so you need to call individual locations for more information on fees.

24. Check ‘N Go

Check ‘N Go currently has locations in several states, including Ohio, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin and more.

Their website isn’t clear about what types of checks they cash, and as usual they don’t share fee amounts since fee rules and regulations vary by state.

You do need a non-expired, government issued identification card of some sort to cash checks with them; this was stated clearly on their website.

25. Community Financial

Community Financial has locations in New York, Florida, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois. Some locations may go by other names such as CFSC, Your Exchange, Money Express or others.

Their website isn’t real clear about all of the different types of checks they might cash, but they do mention government benefit checks, tax refund checks and payroll checks.

I would stop into or call a location near you to find out more about what types of checks they might cash since many check cashing rules are determined by each location’s state.

26. Pay-O-Matic

Pay-O-Matic check cashing stores are located in the state of New York only, however they have dozens of locations serving many areas in and around New York City. Some of the types of checks they’ll cash include:

• Payroll checks
• Government issued checks
• Insurance checks
• Income tax checks
• Lawyer’s checks
• Union checks

Righ now, their check cashing fee is 2.27%. 

Some Tips for Cashing Checks at Check Cashing Stores and Other Non-Bank Entities

When cashing a check at somewhere other than your own bank, it’s important to keep some things in mind so that you are prepared for what may occur. Here are some of the more common facts about cashing a check outside of your own personal bank.

You’ll Likely Pay a Fee

Whenever you go to cash a check at a facility that’s not a traditional bank, and even sometimes at banks, you can expect to pay a fee. That fee will vary based on the company’s individual regulations and the regulations of the state the store is located in.

Usually check cashing facilities will charge a percentage of the check dollar amount as the fee, but not always. Each store’s website and/or location can give you more info about the types of fees they charge for check cashing.

You’ll Need Identification

I’ve never heard of a check cashing facility that will cash a check without some sort of ID. They may exist, but it’s certainly not the norm. Although many of the websites listed here don’t specify what types of IDs they will accept, most require some sort of government issued ID such as a driver’s license, state identification card or passport.

The Store May Have a Maximum Check Cashing Dollar Amount

Many stores with check cashing services have maximum dollar amounts on the checks they’ll cash. Again, those limits will vary depending on the store location so you’ll want to call or stop in for more information.

Opening a Bank Account

If you want to avoid fees and limits on the types of checks and amounts of checks you want to cash, your best bet is to open your own checking account.

Know that most banks will require that you have a clean (or at least cleaned up) banking history with no unpaid charge-offs from previously held bank accounts.

Some banks are more lenient than others about who they allow to open checking and savings accounts, so check around at different banking companies if one turns you down.

Although check cashing places are convenient, you’ll keep more of your own money in your pocket if you can avoid paying fees by having your own bank checking or savings account.

Summary

While it is always going to be better to cash or deposit a check via a bank, there may be times where the only option is to cash a personal check at one of the eighteen places mentioned above. Always look for what is going to be the lowest fees and where you feel the most comfortable. 

When cashing a personal check, try to find places that are well-lit and have plenty of people around for your safety. Grocery stores are often the best places to cash a check when you don’t have a bank account. However, it’s wise to open a bank account before the next time you are in need of cashing a check.

Is Life Insurance a Good Idea?

Hannah Boykin’s parents didn’t think so.

And tragically, both of them passed away within 14 months of each other, leaving 6 kids behind (mostly teenagers) with no financial support.

The children were devastated, not just because they lost both of their parents, but also because they had to be split up. No one in the family could afford to take all of them at once.

Term Life Insurance is extremely affordable. I recommend 10-12x your income over 20-30 years. Get a real-time quote here.

I heard about Hannah’s tragic story from a friend who writes for a life insurance blog. My friend (Chris) had told me although  Hannah faced the unthinkable, she still managed to graduate at the top of her class in high school and start a nursing program.

…but after being split up from her brothers and sisters, and suffering the effects of zero financial support in college, I can’t help but wonder how things would have been different for her family if life insurance had been in the picture.

I tell that story not to scare you into buying life insurance but to show that death can not only be unexpected, but it can also have a lasting impact beyond the loss of a loved one.

Fortunately, there’s a simple and affordable way to prevent Hanna’s story from EVER becoming your family’s story… term life insurance.

Do you really need life insurance?

The short answer is, most likely yes.

…let me explain.

If you rent or own a home, and can’t answer the question, “Where would my family be living 1 year from today if I suddenly died,” you need life insurance.  (HINT: The answer should be in the exact same place they are living now.)

In fact, if anyone in your family relies on the income (or services) you provide, and would be impacted financially by your death, you need life insurance.

According to popular insurance blog Lifehappens.org, the top four reasons people buy life insurance are as follows:

1. Cover burial and other final expenses
2. Replace lost income
3. Pay Off Debt
4. College Planning

Between all of these, most people are covered. Let’s take a look at each one in turn:

1 – Help replace lost income

At the outset, I asked, “If you were to die tomorrow, where would your family live a year from now?“

How about 3 years? Will your spouse still be able to make rent or mortgage payments? Will your kids still be able to do sports or other extracurricular activities?

If you’re the breadwinner in your relationship, losing your income could limit your family’s future, especially if you still have 2 or 3 decades left in your working career.

Term life insurance is the best way to cover lost income. It’s cheap and flexible. For example, a 35-year-old male in good health could get a 25-year $1,000,000 term policy for as little as $35 per month.

…you’re not stuck with 25 years either. You can typically choose between a 10-, 20-, 30- or even 40-year term.

2 – Cover burial and other final expenses

Whether or not you have people depending on you financially, you can’t escape these expenses.

…funerals and burial aren’t cheap either, running just over $8,000 on average.

With over 70% of people living paycheck to paycheck and 6 out of 10 people unable to write a check for $1,000 in an emergency, a funeral expense would be a major blow.

The average family would be facing the loss of a loved one and the sobering reality that the only option to honor your loved one at the funeral is to go deep in debt or set up a GoFundMe account.

With term life insurance, you can easily cover the burial and other final expenses for pennies per month. I of course would recommend you get much more life insurance than just $8,000 and we will see why in our next example.

3 – Pay off debt

Debt can weigh you down in any financial situation, but more so when you’ve just lost a loved one.

That’s why a lot of people get life insurance to help their spouse pay off debt — including their credit cards, student loans, auto loans, or any type of debt that would burden a family if you were to die prematurely. 

…but what about the mortgage?

Basically, you might want to consider getting enough coverage to pay off all debt — including your mortgage. Again, it’s not about getting rich. It’s about preserving your family’s way of life.

4 –  College planning 

Planning for college is a huge obstacle for most families. The never-ending rise in college tuition, paying for room and board, and everything else that goes along with college planning can seem daunting.

Now, imagine if you were left to plan for this alone and without help from your partner’s income? How much harder does college planning become now? Term life insurance solves this problem for your loved ones who are left behind after you’re gone. 

By getting term life insurance now, the burden of paying for college goes away if something were to happen to you. The last thing your loved ones should have to worry about is how to pay for college when you’re gone. This is just another reason why life insurance is so valuable.

3 tips to help you get started

As you can see, there aren’t many situations where you don’t need life insurance.

So, to help you get started on the right foot, here are three tips:

1 – How to buy life insurance

I recommend finding the best life insurance company and at the best price. Instead of visiting 20 different websites, I would use a search engine dedicated to only searching for life insurance companies.

Policygenius will take your information such as age, gender, health habits, and where you live and search for you. In just a few minutes, you will be given dozens of quotes from some of the largest and most reputable life insurance companies in the industry.

Also, I use and recommend Policygenius because I know they will only show offers from the top life insurance companies, they are able to provide extremely accurate real-time quotes, and most importantly — they do all of this without requiring your contact information.

2 – Choose the Right Amount and Term

The number one question I receive about life insurance is how much coverage they should have. A good rule of thumb is to have 10x – 12x your current gross income in coverage.

If you earn $80,000 per year, then a good rule of thumb would be to have $800,000 – $1,000,000 in coverage. This amount helps not only replace your income for years to come, but also pay for things like burial expenses, pay off debt, and plan for college.

As far as how long you should have coverage (the term), I would recommend no less than 20 years and no more than 40 years. To narrow that range down, I would start thinking long-term and decide how long you will need a policy in place. A great question to ask yourself is how long will it take me to be worth my coverage amount.

If you elect to get $ 1,00,000 think it will take you 25 years to be worth that amount, then a 25-year Term is a great start.

3 – Use these ways to save

There are several ways to save on life insurance, but here are the top three:

1. Lose a few pounds – There’s a 25% price difference between health classes, and in many cases, they’re separated by only a few pounds or a few cholesterol or blood pressure points. Take a week to exercise and eat well to improve your health prior to applying for coverage, and you could save 25% to 50%.
2. Do the medical exam – No-exam life insurance sounds tempting — who else hates needles? But these policies cost 10% to 40% more because the insurance company can’t assess your health risk as well. So, unless you have major health problems or have an urgent need for the coverage to take effect, take the exam.
3. Eliminate Tobacco – I recently saw someone get a quote for $1,000,000 in Term Life for 25 years. The cost in the quote was $48/month. However, once they did the medical exam there were traces of tobacco found in their blood work. This caused his new quote to increase to 396% to $190/month!

Why Life Insurance is so Important (to me)

In 2014 I was talking to a friend and his wife about all the reasons to buy term life insurance above. He was a firefighter and his wife stayed home with their three daughters.

Chris had asked me why he needed life insurance if he already had it through his employer as a firefighter. I agreed the job of a firefighter was extremely dangerous, but my question for Chris and his wife was what if he lost his life off-duty?

Two years after that conversation, I received a call that Chris was killed in an ATV accident. He left behind his high-school sweetheart and his three young daughters. We were all devastated — Chris was the absolute best.

A few months after Chris’s passing, I met with his wife Kerry to help her answer some of the challenges of handling all of the finances on her own. During our conversation I finally had the courage to ask her — did Chris ever get Term Life Insurance?

I am so happy to tell you Chris did get coverage after we spoke that day. 

Because he chose to take the initiative and get life insurance then, his family doesn’t have to worry about the finances today. Of course hey will never get back what matters most to them, but I know Chris is smiling down from above knowing he didn’t leave his family with a financial burden after his sudden passing. He protected them.

I tell this story with his wife’s blessing. She told me she doesn’t know what would have happened or how they would have survived without Chris getting life insurance when he did. When I asked her if I could share this story with the public, she told me I better. 

Her words: “Please tell as many people as you can about what Chris did for us before he left us — ” 

Covid-19 Update to this Post

Since the start of COVID-19, many people have been asking about the effects of COVID-19, the vaccine, and the ability qualify for life insurance if you have been infected with COVID-19.

Here is what we know as of right now:

Will the COVID-19 Vaccine Void My Current Life Insurance?

The short answer is NO.

According to the American Council of Life Insurers, they state the following:

“The fact is that life insurers do not consider whether or not a policyholder has received a COVID vaccine when deciding whether to pay a claim.”

“Life insurance policy contracts are very clear on how policies work, and what cause, if any, might lead to the denial of a benefit. A vaccine for COVID-19 is not one of them. 

“Policyholders should rest assured that nothing has changed in the claims-paying process as a result of COVID-19 vaccinations.”

Will the Unvaccinated Still Qualify for Life Insurance or for the Death Benefit?

The short answer is YES.

As of right now, if you are unvaccinated and die as a result of COVID-19, your beneficiary will still get the death benefit.

Yes, I know that sounded a little morbid…

Also, rest assured if you are unvaccinated you can still qualify for life insurance.

Betsy Hoylman, a spokesperson from one of the largest life insurers (Northwestern Mutual) said in a recent interview: 

“…while vaccination status is not a concern for the majority of its applicants, the company is asking for vaccine status from a small number of people who have high risk conditions”, says spokeswoman Betsy Hoylman. 

With that said, she also added that people can be unvaccinated and still qualify for the best rates.

 Can I get Life Insurance if I have had COVID-19?

The short answer is YES, but it may cost you more.

According to ValuePenguin, a site dedicated to gathering facts and data on financial products including life insurance, recently posted this:

“If you’ve been infected with the coronavirus or have recently traveled to a region with a heavy outbreak, applying for life insurance could take longer and be much more expensive. More recently, some insurers have stopped selling policies to customers older than a certain age. Terms and rates may change as life insurance providers continue adjusting to the situation.”

Now, this is eye opening because this wasn’t the case prior to COVID.

But it also makes perfect sense.

You see, life insurance rates are for the most part based on your age and gender. A third factor to creating life insurance rates are based off of the actuarial statistics used to determine your life expectancy.

With that said, it’s understandable why life insurance companies may start increasing their rates for those who have already had COVID.

If data supports that COVID-19 is lowering the life expectancy, then you can expect rates to increase.

Remember, life insurance companies don’t go off what “feels right”.

They go off the data and the number from that data (actuarial statistics).

The Takeaway

We all believe we’re invincible, but the fact of the matter is that unexpected deaths happen all the time. What’s more, life insurance gets more expensive as you get older.

So it’s time to make a choice…and I really hope you do.

If you want to be able to protect and provide for your family (even if you’re not here), you can click here to start with a free quote right now — It literally takes less than 1 minute!

I know… that’s some bigtime superhero, life-after-death talk right there, but I’m being serious.

The alternative is to leave your family’s well-being in the hands of chance, who could face serious obstacles without you.

To achieve instant “hero” status, make sure your loved ones are protected, and punch death in the face, get a quick and easy quote now!

Listen on the Podcast

Do you have IRS problems or maybe worried that your tax situation may not be as good as you thought?

Or, are you a victim of identity theft and the IRS is telling you owe money you really don’t owe?

Today on the show I am bringing on IRS and tax expert Ben Golden to walk us through his own personal story with IRS troubles and what he learned along the way.

First off — you’re not alone. Whether you owe the IRS or you are trying to prove you don’t owe the IRS, what are your options?

What can you do right now?

What should you be doing right now?

And what are your rights when it comes to managing a situation with the IRS?

I will be asking our IRS expert Ben Golden all of this and more when it comes to dealing with the IRS.

Thanks so much for listening to the show and if you feel the content of this podcast was helpful, please subscribe to the podcast where you listen and leave a review!

Today’s show was brought to you by OneAZ Credit Union — my very own credit union I have been proud a member of since 2011. 

If you live in Arizona and are looking for a large credit union with a local, customer-focused feel for your personal or business banking needs, look no further than OneAZ Credit Union.

Last week, President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan, the bill that includes many things, including your stimulus check. There are a lot questions in regards to the third stimulus check and I have answered just about everything I can think of below. If there is a topic I didn’t cover, then please leave a comment at the end of the post and I will respond with an answer.

Alright, let’s start off with the most important question.

How Much Will I Get?

This 3rd round of stimulus checks will include:

$1,400 per person ($2,800 per couple)

$1,400 per dependent (over age 17)

Example: A married couple with three children earning $110,000 per year would receive $7,000.

Differences from the Previous Stimulus Checks

The biggest difference is the eligibility for dependents does not stop at age 17 like it did in 2020. 

Let’s say you have an 18-year-old college student who you claim as your dependent when you file your taxes.

Therefore, you would now receive $1,400 for your college student whereas last year you would not.

Another difference is the income limitations. The first round of stimulus checks were phased out for single filers between $50k and $99k, and married filers were between $150k and $198k.

The third round of stimulus payments lower the eligibility quite a bit.

Single filers phase out between $75k and $80k and married filers phase out between $150k and $160k.

Who Does Not Qualify for Stimulus Check?

Dependents: If you can be claimed on someone else’s tax return, you will NOT receive a stimulus check.

High income earners: If your adjusted gross income (line 8b on tax return) on your 2019 tax return, or 2020 if you’ve already filed, is above these thresholds, you and your dependents will NOT receive a stimulus check:

• Single filers above $80,000 

• Head of household: $120,000

• Married filing jointly: $160,000

When Will I Receive My Stimulus Check?

Stimulus checks started going out on March 17th and are expected to continue going out for the next 10 days or until the end of March. 

Where to Check on Payment Status 

The IRS has a Get My Payment tool that actually works! 

I know…I was shocked to see something on a government website actually worked too.

Simply enter in your Social Security Number (or Tax ID Number), your date of birth, your street address and your zip code. Within seconds, 

Is My Stimulus Based onMy  2019 or 2020 Return?

The IRS states that your latest tax return will be used to determine your eligibility or amount for the stimulus check.

If you haven’t filed your 2020 return yet, then the stimulus eligibility will be based on your 2019 return. However, if you filed your 2020 return already, then the IRS will use this latest return to determine your stimulus check amount and eligibility.

What if I Wasn’t Eligible in 2019 but I Now Qualify in 2020?

Maybe you’re someone who was not eligible based on your 2019 tax return but after 2020, you would now qualify for the stimulus check.

If this is you, the good news is the IRS is saying you will get your stimulus check one way or the other. If you already filed your 2020 return with the lower adjusted gross income, then you will be receiving a stimulus check based on the latest tax return.

However, if you haven’t filed yet (you now have until March 17th 2021), your stimulus check will be delayed until you file your 2020. The IRS says they will reconcile with the latest tax returns sometime this year or you may have a credit applied to your 2021 tax return.

Have Questions?

Any other questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. Just simply leave a comment below this post and I will do my best to answer them as quickly as possible.

Also, your questions will help other readers who may have the same question you do, so feel free to ask away and help someone else navigate through this complicated process.

Thanks so much!

-Chris Peach

No one intends to ruin their credit, but once your credit is messed up, it feels like it can never be corrected.

But what if showed you how to repair your credit yourself and see results in just 30 days?

Believe it or not, it’s not rocket-science and there are systematic steps that you can take to not only fix your credit; but to make it better than it was before.

1. Get Your Credit Report

Before you can do anything to fix your credit, you are going to need to check your credit report to understand what exactly needs to be fixed.

Now, you can’t just get a copy of 1 credit report; you need to get a copy of all three reports from the major credit reporting agencies which are:

• Transunion
• Equifax
• Experian

The reason you need to check all 3 credit reports is that some items could be on one credit report that isn’t on the other.

One report could have a collection on it that one doesn’t or could have the incorrect balance on a specific account.

It is essential that you get all of your credit reports and that you fix them at the same time; it would be a complete waste of time to only work on one report at a time.

2. Dispute Your Information

Once you have obtained all of your credit reports, it is time to review all of your information and start the process of disputing specific information.

Your Personal Information

It might not seem essential, but making sure your personal information is accurate on your credit report is necessary.

If there are inaccurate aliases on your report, you could end up having someone else’s information on your credit report.

You also want to make sure old home addresses and information about your employer is updated on your reports.

Account Information

You want to make sure that your account information is accurate on all 3 of your credit reports. You also need to dispute any accounts that don’t belong to you.

You should also dispute any information that isn’t correct on your profile, such as account open and close dates, balance amounts, and payment history.

Collection Information

Outside of late payments, collections are a huge reason why so many people will have bad credit and need to repair their credit.

Collections usually happen when you owe a debt that hasn’t been paid to a creditor.

These debts are usually sold to a collection agency for a much lower price (in bulk), and the collection agencies become responsible for collecting the debt.

If you find collections on your credit report, you should look into sending a debt validation letter to make sure the debt belongs to you.

There is also an additional option of paying off the debt for it to be deleted from your credit report.

3. Pay To Delete Collections

One of the fastest ways to fix your credit report is to get rid of a collection on your credit report by using a method called Pay For Deletion.

The way this process works is that you reach out to the collection agency and negotiate to pay the debt you owe; as long as they delete the collection off of your credit report.

It’s important to get this agreement in writing before you make the payment because once the collection agency has the payment, they won’t have any reason to remove it.

The reason you want to get this deleted and not just set to paid is that it can still affect your credit report negatively if you only have it set as paid.

Having it removed ultimately makes it look like it never existed in the first place.

4. Increase Your Available Credit

Increasing your available credit is paramount; in-fact, FICO (the company responsible for the FICO Score) just announced that available credit and on-time payments will be a massive part of their new credit score model. There are a few ways you can do this:

The fastest and easiest way to increase your available credit, which will lower your overall credit utilization, is to get a credit limit increase.

Most credit card companies will allow you to request one after only 6 months, and it usually doesn’t hurt your credit score to request one.

I recommend doing a credit limit increase every 6 months, not to have more credit to use but to lower your overall credit utilization.

5. Add New Credit Accounts

You might be thinking that this is some super odd advice, but the truth is that you can’t repair your credit without adding new credit.

You have to add a new history of making on-time payments and try to make the good outweigh the bad. Below are some of the best options for adding new credit when you have bad credit:

Credit Builder Loans

Think of a credit builder loan almost like a personal loan in reverse. Instead of receiving the money once you get approved for the loan, you get it after the loan is paid off.

While the loan is being paid off, your on-time payments will be updated on your credit report, and you will have a new tradeline as well.

Credit builder loans are probably the lowest secured option you will have when it comes to getting a new account. These products do not require a credit check, so anyone with poor credit can qualify.

Secured Credit Cards

Getting a secured credit card would be your next best option because it gives you the ability to control your credit limit based on your initial deposit.

Secured cards require a security deposit that usually start around $200.00.

However, they give you the ability to have an actual credit card that can be used anywhere a Visa or Mastercard is accepted.

Secured cards also have a very low barrier to entry as far as your credit score goes and some cards like the secured card from Capital One gives you an automatic credit limit increase after making 5 on-time payments.

Making on-time payments is key to rebuilding your credit, and secured cards make the process simple.

Merchandise Accounts

You might not be too familiar with what a merchandise account is but think of it as a store credit card. Basically, you get a credit limit that can only be used with the Merchant.

A great example is Fingerhut, they are one of the largest merchandise companies. They offer you the ability to use your credit limit on over 400,000 items.

Fingerhut also offers credit limit increases when you make a few on-time payments, which will allow your credit score to grow.

You might get a hard pull with a merchandise account; however, you will still be able to qualify regardless of credit.

6. Limit Hard Inquiries

The next thing you will need to do is limit all hard inquiries to your credit report. A hard inquiry will stay on your credit report for 2 years, and the more of them you have, the worse your score will get.

You need to limit the number of hard inquiries you have over the next year, and the best way to do that is to understand what inquiries will and won’t hurt your credit score.

Inquiries That Hurt Your Credit

Applying For New Credit – Whenever you apply for new credit, you will 90% of the time get a hard credit inquiry on your report.

Apply For A Credit Limit Increase – Depending on your lender, you could incur a hard inquiry when you apply for a credit limit increase, so always ask before you apply.

Opening A Bank Account – Be sure to ask if you will get a hard inquiry on your credit report before you open a new bank account because some banks will pull your credit.

Inquiries That Don’t Hurt Your Credit

Checking Your Own Credit – Checking your own credit will create what is known as a “soft credit pull.” This means that it won’t affect your score, no matter how many times you do it.

Getting An Insurance Quote – This question comes up often; however, getting an insurance quote for your home or car will not affect your credit score. This is because mainly you aren’t applying for any type of credit, just for insurance.

Applying For A Job – When an Employer checks your credit, they are not issuing you a loan but just checking to see how you manage your money. This is very true in finance jobs, and this won’t affect your score.

7. Pay Your Bills On Time

Now that you have cleaned up your credit and added a few new accounts, it’s time for the real work to begin.

While Payment history used to account for over 35% of your score, it looks like in the next year or so, it is going to become even more critical.

Along with paying your bills on time, you should also be mindful of what your remaining balance will be that will report to your credit.

Trust me, this sounds very simple; however, it’s the most natural part to mess up, and if you have bad credit, currently, you probably missed a few payments before.

No matter what you do, be sure to pay the minimum payment due, at least.

8. Monitor Your Credit Report & Score

Your next step should be to monitor your credit; while this doesn’t seem too significant, it’s the one step you don’t want to miss.

While you are in the process of repairing your credit, you are going to see a ton of updates on your report, and you need to pay close attention to them.

If a collection agency states they will delete a collection, you need to make sure it gets deleted. If you get a credit limit increase, you need to make sure it reports correctly on your report.

There is no way to figure out if everything you are doing is working if you aren’t monitoring your credit.

The worst thing that could happen by not paying attention to your credit is that someone tries to steal your identity.

Monitoring your credit is super important if you want to build your credit correctly.

9. Give Your Credit Time

No one wants to hear this part, especially when you are probably trying to use your credit today.

However, the truth is that repairing your credit takes time, and you will need to manage your credit in 30-day increments.

It usually takes at least 30 days before you see any changes in your reports, so you have to give the changes time to update.

There is a factor known as “Average Age Of Accounts” that are used to determine the age of your credit profile.

The older your accounts, the better your score can become. Time is one of the only factors you can’t control when it comes to your credit, but it’s just as important.

Take Action

Hopefully, you have a better understanding of how to repair your credit. It might seem like a ton of work, and honestly, it is.

While you don’t have to hire a credit repair company to fix your credit, you should be ready to invest a few hundred bucks on obtaining new accounts and paying off old debt.

It’s time to take action, get yourself a free copy of your credit score and report and get started with repairing your credit today.

*This post was provided by the team at CreditKnocks and written exclusively for Money Peach.

Have you ever had a big expense pop up in your life and you thought to yourself — I wish I would have had money to pay for that?

But since you didn’t have the money on hand and you needed to make the expense, chances are you went into debt. Maybe this was for a car, or a home repair, new furniture, or possibly even a vacation?

Sinking funds solve this problem.

What is a Sinking Fund

The term sinking fund actually comes from the real estate world. For example, let’s say a group of real estate investors come together and buy a large apartment complex. When they buy the complex, they are told there is a brand new roof on the apartment, however the roof will need to be replaced in 10 years at a cost of $1 million.

The investors don’t want to get 10 years down the road and have to decide how to pay for million dollar roof, so instead they set up a sinking fund. They take $1 million and break it down into $8,333/month for the next 10 years and save it into a savings account what they refer to as a sinking fund.

Sinking Funds are a fancy name for individual savings accounts that you automate to save for life’s bigger expenses.

Now we can apply this same mentality to our personal finances. Let’s use a Christmas for example

Every year we know Christmas comes right after Thanksgiving and right before the New Year. And without fail, people will go into debt over the holidays simply because Christmas “snuck up on them” and they didn’t have any extra money to spend over the holidays.

Has this happened to you too?

Now what if we decided we would plan ahead for the next Christmas using a sinking fund? Instead of waiting for Thanksgiving dinner to digest and then going into instant freak-out mode for the next 30 days, we instead opened up our Christmas Fund.

And since we know we spend $1,200 every year at Christmas, we decide to automatically deposit $100 every month into our sinking fund at an online bank earning us 20x higher interest than the big banks. Now when Christmas comes, we don’t go into freak-out mode and instead transfer over the $1,200 cash we had been automatically saving each month for the past year.

How much better would that feel?

Why Online Banks?

Online banks will allow you to set up multiple sinking funds (really just savings accounts) with no minimum balance to maintain and no hidden fees. They also pay our 20x higher interest rates than a traditional brick and mortar bank and you have the same protection on your savings offered by any other traditional in-branch bank.

For example, if you were to save $10,000 in a savings account at one of the mega banks, the national average for savings rates is 0.09% APY or $9 per year. But, if you chose an online bank such as CIT Bank, you would earn 0.85% APY on your $10,000, which earns you $175 per year.

Both the mega banks and online banks are all FDIC insured and offer the same protection for your money. However, since CIT Bank is an online bank, they don’t have to pay for all the overhead that comes with multiple branches, staffing, and other costs — and those savings are passed onto you.

Earn More With Your Savings – CIT Savings currently offers a 0.85% APY on with their CIT Savings Builder. To qualify for the 0.85% APY, simply open a savings account with a minimum of $100 and continue to deposit $100/month — CIT Savings Builder is a perfect bank for your next sinking fund.

Why Sinking Funds Work So Well

Sinking funds work so well because you’re not waiting for life to happen to you and then trying to figure out how to pay for it. Instead, you are planning for the unexpected and ensuring you have cash on hand before you actually need it.

They are Proactive

According to the book 7 Habits of Highly Successful People by Stephen Covey, the number one habit of highly successful people is that they are proactive. They don’t wait for life to happen to them, instead they happen to life.

When you plan ahead and open a sinking fund for a future expense, you’re being proactive with your life and money. This is exactly what the financial world doesn’t want you be. 

Credit Cards are Reactive

If being proactive is a habit of the highly successful, then the opposite must also be true. Credit cards (when not used properly) are reactive. Any time you have an unexpected expense and you don’t have the money, you end up going into debt using your credit card. 

And if you think about it, the worst time to go into debt at any interest rate is when you don’t have money. This is why so many people carry balances on their credit cards. You need them when you don’t have any money and then the (high) interest keeps you in their system for longer than you expected.

Seven Sinking Funds You Can Start With

The sky is the limit when it comes to sinking funds. There are no right or wrong funds to start with, but if you need some help on getting started, here are seven you may want to consider first.

1. Emergency Fund

This one may seem obvious, but did you know 6 out of 10 people cannot write a check for a $1,000 emergency today? An emergency fund is the first sinking fun I recommend because it’s the first layer of defense to going back into debt.

Instead of waiting for an emergency to happen and then going into debt, start an emergency sinking fund. Next time an emergency happens you won’t have to worry. You will instead just write a check and go on with your day.

2. Vacation Fund

If you long for a trip to paradise but don’t think you’ll ever be able to afford it, a sinking fund could be the way you can finally fulfill that dream. Once you are able to meet your monthly financial needs, you can start putting a little “extra” money aside at the end of each month.

Another option is to fund your vacation sinking fund throughout the month whenever you notice a surplus in your bank account or if you earn a little extra cash. The idea is that putting it into your sinking fund right away will prevent you from spending it on some other type of splurge in the meantime.

3. New Car or Car Repair Fund

Often people don’t think about saving for a new vehicle until their current one is beginning to show some age or wear and tear. However, at that point it is nearly too late. The time to begin saving for a new car is immediately after buying one. A new car sinking fund will also be able to help you prevent a future car payment. 

The average monthly car payment is $482. If you made this payment into your sinking fund for 20 months, you would have almost $10k to buy another car. This is why proactive people use them.

Saving for repairs on your car, new or old, is also a good idea that could prevent you from having to go into debt debt in order to fix your main mode of transportation.

4. Christmas & Birthdays Gifts Fund

This is one account you may have thought of right away when we first mentioned sinking funds because so many people have seen ideas on Pinterest and other social media channels that suggest you save a certain amount each week to end up with a tidy sum by Christmas for gifts.

But instead of socking cash away in a drawer or a jar, why not let it build interest and add up more quickly in your sinking fund savings account? Plus you’ll be less tempted to dig in there and “borrow” some to pay for something other than what your sinking fund is meant for.

5. Home Repair or New Appliance Fund

Even if you don’t take vacations, don’t have a car, and don’t celebrate holidays with many gifts, you might still need this sinking fund. Just about everyone has been hit with unexpected repair bills from a refrigerator that suddenly stops working, or a washing machine that quits. So you call a repair person and get it fixed, or purchase a new one.

But, where does that fit into your monthly budget? The answer is “nowhere” unless you’ve been saving for it in a sinking fund. Even those who rent instead of owning a home will likely have to shell out for new things around their home once in awhile, so a sinking fund for household repairs and upgrades is still a good idea for renters.

6. Medical Co-pay Fund

Unless you have been asleep for the past few years, you are surely aware of the rising costs of medical care. Not only are medical facilities and pharmacies charging more than ever before, but insurance premiums are going up as well. A sinking fund could be a way to save for the co-pay and/or deductible from an unexpected medical bill you might experience.

You never know when you’ll have to have an emergency surgery or end up going into the critical care clinic when you get sick on the weekend. Having money saved in a sinking fund will at least allow you some peace of mind so you can focus on your health instead of how to pay for these unexpected expenses.

7.  Down Payment Fund

If you’re getting ready to buy a house or make a large purchase, a healthy down payment up front will always save you the most money.  Determine the amount of down payment you’re going to need and then decide on how long it will be until you need it. 

For example, if you’re getting ready to buy a $250,000 home and want to put down 20% to avoid paying private mortgage insurance, then you know you’ll need $50,000. If you’re 5 years away from buying a home, then you would set up a sinking fund and transfer $833/month into your new sinking fund.

Other (un)Common Sinking Funds

Chances are you are unique and amazing in your own special way, so why not set up a sinking fund for what makes you different? Here is a list of unique funds that may fit into your life as well. And, don’t you be judging just yet..these are ones I have actually seen inside our money coaching program.

• Travel Home Fund
• Party Fund
• Weightlifting Supplement Fund
• Diet/Weightloss Fund
• Breast Augmentation Fund
• Beer Brewing Fund
• New Pool Fund
• Hunting
• Vegas Fund
• Concert Fund
• (Online) Dating Fund
• New Kitchen Fund

These are just some ideas for different things you could open sinking funds for, however the seven listed above are a great place to start.

I’m sure you have other ideas going through your mind right now as well. But regardless of the reason or name of your fund, you should start a sinking fund or two today and create a plan for the expected-unexpected.

How to Start a Sinking Fund

Starting a sinking fund is easy. But, your sinking fund must be at a different bank than your regular checking or savings account. 

Why?

Because if you’re sinking funds are sitting next to your checking account, you just may want to rob some of your automatic savings into your checking account. Keep your sinking funds at a separate bank, earn higher interest, and don’t be tempted to rob yourself of your a savings each month.

Step 1: Open a Savings Builder Account

Head over to CIT Bank and open a Savings Builder Account. It will take 5-7 minutes to open the account and you can easily connect your current checking account (or any account for that matter) to your new savings builder account.

Some banks will make two small deposits into your account and make you wait 3 days to confirm, but CIT Savings does have an instant verification option.

Also, it’s important to know that you will not have a hard pull on your credit when opening a CIT Savings Builder. If you’re worried about your credit or you’re trying to rebuild your credit, CIT bank does not do a hard pull when opening a savings account.

Lastly, you can also nickname each of the accounts you set up. You may want to have one emergency fund and then one vacation.

Step 2: Fund Your Account ($100 minimum)

Now, it’s time to save your first $100. This is the minimum initial deposit to open a Savings Builder account. And, it also means you earn one of the highest interest rates in online banking.

You can fund your account by digitally linking to your current account. Or, you can mail a paper check to CIT Bank.

Step 3: Setup Recurring Deposits

Most online banks, including CIT Bank, will pay out interest in a tiered system. 

For example, most online banks pay up to the highest rate they advertise based on account balance. And if you’re account balance is less than $25,000, then you’re not going to actually earn the highest rate advertised. However, the reason why I love CIT Savings Builder for sinking funds is they will pay their highest rate of 1.75% on your balance when you continue to deposit a minimum of $100/month into your sinking fund (savings account).

If you’re a W-2 employee and you are paid on a schedule, you may want to consider setting up direct deposit into your new sinking fund. You can do this by contacting your employer (or going online) and setting up direct deposit using the routing number and account number for each of your new sinking funds.

Step 4: Create More Sinking Funds

Start with one sinking fund, but over time you’re going to want to create more. The best time to create a new sinking fund is when you realize you needed money and you didn’t save for it. Instead of letting history repeat itself, create a sinking fund and ensure you have money in the bank before you need it.

Step 5: Withdraw Your Cash to Pay the Bill

Sinking funds are not checking accounts — they are savings accounts. They are not to be used for daily withdrawals, but instead to be used for large expenses. With that said, you definitely have access to your sinking funds but it’s not immediate and that’s for a reason. 

The first rule to stopping a bad habit — like never saving enough money — is to make the trigger invisible.

This is why you don’t want to open up a sinking fund at your everyday bank. When you don’t see your savings every time you login to your everyday bank, you’re much less likely to steal the savings from yourself.

The second rule to stopping a bad habit is to make it difficult.

Whenever you transfer money from one bank to another, there is a 3-5 day ACH transfer through the automated clearing house. This happens with all transfers between different banking institutions and this is a good thing. The 3-5 delay is the part of erasing a bad habit by making it difficult. 

Although not too difficult, big purchases should be made with planning instead of knee-jerk reactions. Even emergencies don’t have to be paid right this second. Not matter what you’re saving for in your sinking fund, it’s best to wait for 3 -5 days before you actually spend the money.

Use Sinking Funds to Save Money

Did you know if you chose to change your monthly payment into an annual payment, you can often save a lot of money?

A great example is with auto insurance. Almost all auto insurance companies will give you a break on your annual premium if you pay them all up front instead of paying them each month.

Call your insurance agent and ask if you can save money by moving to an annual payment plan. Then take that annual premium and divide it out into 12 monthly payments. Open up a sinking fund, nickname it insurance fund, and make the monthly payment to yourself.

The Best Place to Keep Your Sinking Fund

Ideally, you should always open your sinking funds in a high-yield bank account. These accounts charge zero fees and earn the most interest.

Since you might be keeping your money in these accounts for at least a year, earning the most interest possible is a no-brainer. Online banks also make it easy to transfer or schedule payments when need access to your savings.

Brick-and-mortar banks pay on average 0.09% APY for your deposits. For a $10,000 deposit, you earn $9 in interest each year. And if you pay monthly account fees, you’re actually paying the bank to keep your money for you. In this case, you are actually better keeping your cash under your mattress.

Right now CIT Savings Builder pays 0.85% APY when you open an account with $100 and maintain $100/monthly deposit OR a $25,000 balance. Also, unlike brick-and-mortar banks, online banks don’t charge you monthly hidden fees.

Do Not Use CDs for Sinking Funds

Also, don’t put your sinking funds into a CD. Even if it has a higher interest rate. The reason why is that your money is untouchable for the entire CD term. So, if you choose a 12-month CD, you can’t withdraw your cash for 12 months penalty-free. And, since you’re saving monthly, you open a new CD each month.

One year from now, you have 12 different funds for one savings goals with 12 different maturity dates. With a regular savings account, all your cash stays in one account.

Tips to Fund Your Sinking Fund

At first, it can be difficult to find money for your sinking fund. Especially if you’re living paycheck to paycheck or have a variable income. There are a few ways to find money for your sinking fund each month.

Transfer Money From Your Checking Account

After all, your checking account is a giant slush fund that pays all your bills. As bills come in, you pay them. At the end of the month, you either keep the extra money in your account. Or, you transfer it to your savings account.

Since your checking account is probably your most active bank account, start here. Only keep enough money in your checking account to pay your regular monthly bills. And, enough surplus cash to avoid overdraft fees.

Here are two other reasons not to keep extra money in your checking account:

• You might spend it instead of saving it
• Most checking accounts don’t earn interest

If you have extra money left over each month, transfer this cash into your sinking fund each month.

Even if you have a variable income, you can use this trick to cash flow your sinking fund.

Divide Your Paycheck Into Sinking Fund Categories

Some people divide their entire paycheck into different sinking fund categories. You can even do this for your regular monthly expenses like utilities or your cell phone bill. This can force you to stick to your spending plan each month.

To keep it simple, you can also make sinking funds for your disposable income. That’s any cash left over after your monthly bills, investing, and charity giving.

Instead of just having your money sit in a savings account earning interest, give it a purpose. Not only does your cash earn interest. But, you now have more motivation to save more cash each month.

So you don’t accidentally spend this money, schedule the transfer on each payday. Most employers now use direct deposit to pay you. It takes a few minutes to setup automatic transfers.

Start a Side Hustle

Looking at your current checking account balance and paystubs are the two easiest places to start. After all, you’re improving on what you already have. No extra time or effort is required.

One of the next best options is to boost your income with a side hustle.

If you don’t need the extra cash to pay off high interest debt or topping off your emergency fund, put it in your sinking fund. And, don’t be afraid to also contribute your regular day job income into these sinking funds too.

Whether you freelance online or you drive for Uber, you can earn cash in your free time. Although putting your earnings in a sinking fund doesn’t give instant gratification, you reap larger benefits when you need to tap your sinking fund.

Reduce Spending and Save the Difference

Another way to put more cash into your sinking fund is to spend less money. Most of us can cut spending in some category each month. It can be cooking more meals at home, ditching cable tv, or something in between. Then bank your savings with a sinking fund.

When Sinking Funds Are Good

Sinking funds are good for saving for those large planned expenses. You know they’re coming, but you don’t know exactly when. For example, you might use sinking funds for any expense that’s at least three months from now. Or, even a really large expense that’s five years away like buying a house is a perfect sinking fund.

These are the advantages of having sinking funds:

• Focus your savings on specific expenses
• Reduce the risk of being reactive and going into debt
• Prevents you from accidentally spending too much each month

When Sinking Funds Aren’t the Best Option

Sinking funds are great, but they’re not always the best way to save money. For example, you shouldn’t use them for long-term goals like saving for retirement.

For retirement savings, it’s best to invest in places like M-1 Finance or Betterment. Retirement is long-term savings for your later years in life — not for your next vacation.

Another great long-term investment would be crowdfunded real estate that can earn up to 12.4% per year versus 1.75% per year. You have decades to build a nest egg and investing helps you earn passive income that outpaces inflation.

• Savings accounts don’t have the highest passive income potential investment
• Must have a fully funded emergency fund before you can fund your sinking fund
• Must choose a fee-free bank account to maximize sinking fund earnings

Summary

Sinking funds are quick and easy to start. Take the 5-7 minutes and open up your first sinking fund today.

Don’t let yourself run into the problem of needing money right now and not having it. Instead of going into debt and paying high interest, become proactive and earn interest.

Did you know that almost 80% of people are living paycheck to paycheck? In fact, since 2006 the paycheck-to-paycheck lifestyle has increased every year from 65% in 2006 to almost 80% today.

What if those same people could stop living paycheck to paycheck and actually save money?

The simple fact is those who choose to create a budget and stick to it will not only stop the paycheck-to-paycheck lifestyle — they will on average save $500 per month.

Over the next few minutes, I am going to walk you step-by-step in creating a very simple and effective budget. I am also going to give you a free budget tool to use and show you how to use it.

Now, let’s start with step one.

Free Budget Templates: Grab the budgeting templates and download the how-to-budget mini course here.

Step 1: Go Back 90 Days

As the saying goes; what gets measured gets managed. The first step is to determine exactly what your money has been doing before you can tell it what to do. 

You are going to print all bank statements for the past 90 days (three months).

If you only use a checking account and a debit card, then you will only be printing three monthly statements.

However, if you use a credit card (or multiple credit cards), you will need to print off 90 days worth of statements for all accounts.

Step 2: Make Categories

Once you have 90 days worth of bank statements in front of you, it’s time to create categories. This is going to make budgeting much easier.

Once you start going through your expenses, you will start to notice expenses that you can put into categories. Examples could include groceries, fuel, dining out, entertainment, shopping or health.

The fewer the categories, the better. No more than 20 categories is ideal.

Average of 90 Days

With each category, you are going to take the average of the 90 days worth of expenses. For example, if you have $1,500 total expenses for groceries, then your monthly average is going to be $500. 

The Fixed Expenses

Circle or highlight all expenses that are the same each month. This may be your rent, mortgage, cable, cell phone, car payment, insurance, or basically anything you know is going to be the same amount each month.

Step 3: Enter Into Your Budget

Once you have gone back through 90 days and created categories for your expenses, it’s time to start entering those expenses into your actual budget.

Start with Your Take-Home Pay

The first number you need is your projected monthly take-home pay. You can think of this as the amount of money that hits your checking account within the month.

For example, your income may be $80,000 per year, but your take home pay after taxes and all deductions may be closer to $50,000 per year. Therefore your take-home pay would be $4,333 per month instead of $6,667.

Transfer Categories to Your New Budget

Remember, in step one you went back 90 days and in step two you created categories based on those 90 days worth of transactions.

From here, you will now enter in the categories you created and the monthly average for each category. 

Step 4: Zero Out Your Budget

Now it’s time to create a zero-based budget. 

All this means is you will have a plan for every dollar that comes in as take-home pay. Whether your income is $2,000 or $20,000 per month, every single dollar will be told what to do before you actually spend it.

Expenses Will Be Higher Than Income

Ninety-nine out of hundred times, your average monthly expenses will be more than your take-home pay. If this happens to you, take a deep breath and realize this is completely normal. This is also why over 75% of people report they are living paycheck to paycheck.

This is where you will go back and determine the needs versus the wants.

There is no right or wrong way when going through the needs versus the wants. It’s one hundred percent up to you. The bottom line is your take-home pay minus all of your expenses must equal zero.

Take Home Pay  —  Expenses = ZERO

Step 5: Follow Your Plan

Once you have created your zero based budget, it’s now time to follow your plan. Remember, this is the play YOU created for YOUR MONEY.

Every time you make a purchase or a payment is made, you will record it in your new budget. 

Best Practice: Always ask for a receipt. Then at the end of the day, take the 2-3 minutes and add them into your budget.

Step 6: Make Adjustments

The chances of you being perfect your first month are zero percent. In fact you will never be perfect — you’ll become really good, but never perfect.

If you remember from steps one and two, you printed off 90 days worth of bank statements, made categories, and averaged the expenses into monthly amounts. This was to create a baseline based on average spending habits. 

Therefore, this does not mean you’re going to be perfect within every category.

Make Progress, Not Perfection

Here is a fact: You will have at least 37 emergency budget meetings within that first month. Maybe you underestimated groceries (everyone always does) and overestimated fuel for your cars.

Or you may have allocated too much for dining out and not enough for shopping. You may even realize you need a separate category just for Amazon.

If this is you, keep in mind this is one hundred percent normal and you are not a failure, not weird, and doing everything right.

Click Here for the Free Budget Mini Course: Download the free budget forms and then watch me show you exactly how create your own budget!

Step 7: Rinse and Repeat

Your first month is a trial month. It’s not going to be even close to perfect and you’re going to feel like a complete failure at times. 

Don’t give up.

Month one won’t go great, month two will be better, and month three will actually be easy. Give yourself 90 days to get comfortable with your budget.

The Result

The biggest raise you will ever receive in your working lifetime is the day you decide to live on a budget.

The average student of Money Peach saves $500 per month by simply creating a plan for every dollar that comes into their life. At the end of the year, this is $6,000 saved. In just five years, $30,000 is saved without ever making more money.

What could you do with an extra $500 per month? Pay off debt faster? Save for a big purchase? Travel more? Live life without the stress of money?

It’s your turn to get the money right. You got this my friend!

Frequently Asked Questions

When should I create my budget?

Right now.

But, in the future you always want to create your budget BEFORE the month actually starts. The idea is you will create a plan for every dollar that comes into your life before you actually receive and spend it.

Budgeting is proactive versus reactive. 

When you create a budget before the month begins, you are now telling your money what to do and where to go instead of wondering where it all went.

Does it matter when I get paid?

No. 

Whether you are paid once weekly, bi-weekly, the 1st and the 15th, or once-per-month does not matter. Just add up how much you get paid between the 1st and the last day of the month, and then use that as your income (take-home-pay) for your budget.

Why budget on a monthly schedule versus a pay period schedule?

Your life is already set up on a monthly schedule. Your mortgage or rent, your bills, insurance, auto payments and everything else in life is already set up to be paid once per month. 

We are just going to follow the plan that has already been created for us.

Simplicity is the key to creating and sticking to a budget long-term. The goal is to not only create a budget, but to follow the plan we created for our money every month going forward.

What if I don’t get paid the same amount each month?

This is completely normal and it’s called irregular income budgeting. Just like you did in step one and two where you averaged out your 90-days worth of bank statements, you will do the same for your income.

Example: Month 1 you earn $4,000, month 2 you earn $8,000 and month 3 you don’t earn any month at all. Therefore, your average income will be $4,000. 

It would be wise to save the extra money from month 2 in a savings account earmarked for your income. This way you have something to draw from in a down month.

Keep in mind — you will take a new 90-day rolling average at the start of each month.

Is this the only budgeting option available?

No, there are plenty of other budget strategies out there, although I think this is the best because it can be used for everyone. However, another popular budgeting method was created by Elizabeth Warren and is the 50-30-20 Budget.

If I plan on using every dollar I earn, wouldn’t my checking account be zero?

You will definitely need to create a “buffer” inside your checking account so you never come close to zero (or ever overdraft). 

Pro Tip: Put the due date next to all of your bills (your fixed expenses) inside your budget. Now, take a look at your budget and you will notice you will have a period of 7-10 days where the majority of your monthly expenses will come out. This allows you to determine how much of a buffer you will need.

Example: You get paid $2,500 on the 1st and 15th of the month. Between the 1st and the 7th of the month, your bills and monthly expenses will add up to be $2,700 per month. Now you can see you need at least $200 extra for those first two weeks in order to avoid an overdraft. A best practice would be to set aside an extra $500 in your checking account so you know your checking account will always stay above a $300 minimum balance.

What if I don’t have enough money to zero-out my budget?

This is completely normal and happens to the majority of people who first create a budget. This is also why over 75% of people are living paycheck to paycheck.

You will need to go back through the Needs vs Wants section of the worksheet from the mini course. This will be short-term painful for the long-term gain.

If I go over budget, how do I account for that next month?

You will never spend exactly what your income is within any given month. Your life has too many moving parts to literally spend exactly what you earn inside a 30-day period.

One month you may have overspent and the following month you may have underspent.

When this happens, simply add the unspent amount (or subtract the overspent amount) from your income the following month.

Example: At the end of April, you see you overspent by $100. Next month you would simply subtract $100 from your income and then zero out your budget.

Get the Budget Templates Right Here

Now that you have a pretty good idea of how a budget works, I am going to give you the budget templates and walk you step-by-step with how to use them. If you have any questions at all, please post in the comments section below.

Good luck and congratulations on creating your budget!

Download Templates

When Andrea and I got married in 2008, we opened up a joint checking account together.

Both of our paychecks were directly deposited into the one joint account and all of our expenses came out of the same joint account.

This is how we have handled our finances since day one and we both couldn’t imagine doing it any other way.

But what about those who don’t share money in a marriage (or relationship)? 

When I first started teaching personal finance, I had my blinders on. My focus was showing people how to create a simple budget, save more money and pay off debt. 

One of the very first couples I started money coaching caught me by complete surprise: They had completely separate bank accounts!

Over 40% of married couples today have separate bank accounts.

Should you combine your finances?

My humble opinion – absolutely.

But, let me also tell you why I think it is so important.

Early on in our marriage I thought buying flowers for my wife would make her happy. However, her love language (per Gary Chapman’s The Five Love Languages), is acts of service and words of affirmation – NOT gifts.

Full Transparency is Good for Marriage

I’m not saying you have separate accounts because you are trying to hide anything from your spouse, but it could appear that way at no fault of your own.

If you’ve been married long enough, you know by now that communication errors between the two of you happen and when you take the 30,000 foot view of the disagreement, it’s often hard to pinpoint who was at fault.

Here’s an example:

The point of this example it wasn’t her fault or my fault – rather it was a simple misconception between us. 

When you have SEPARATE accounts, there will be an increased chance for misconceptions. 

Maybe you notice she’s wearing new clothes and you start wondering how much those clothes cost.

Then you start going down the rabbit hole of why she is spending this money and why she didn’t chip in more for groceries last month.

Oh, I see…your expensive clothes were more important that food for our family. 

Then resentment starts to creep in and all of a sudden she starts asking why you’re so quiet.

And then she starts thinking that you’re hiding something and this is why you’re so quiet….and as you can see this plays out like a dog chasing it’s tail.

If there was one joint bank account, they could simply login and see you didn’t buy those expensive clothes.

They were free because you signed up for a free trial at Rent the Runway (place to rent designer clothes). You didn’t spend any money at all!

What Happens if the Unthinkable Happens?

Like I said above, Andrea have always shared one bank account since we said “I do”.

However, it wasn’t until a few years into our marriage when we sat down with a financial planner and he started asking questions about the finances.

I was quick to have all the answers and I will never forget when Brent (the financial planner) told me to stop answering all the questions because he wanted to see what Andrea’s response would be.

Andrea already knew about every transaction in our lives (she could see them), but she wasn’t quite sure how it was all managed. She knew how much money there was in our lives, but didn’t know where it all was and how to access it.

When Brent asked me why she didn’t know where everything was as, I replied with the obvious:

“Well, she can just ask me and I will tell her”.

Then Brent said,

“But what if you’re not around to tell her?”

Houston, we have a problem here.

He was spot on.

None of us know what today brings, right?

Also, I know the fact that you’re reading an email from me tells me that you are the one in the relationship who is the manager of the money.

Even if you currently share finances, something tells me you do most of the handling of the finances.

Am I right?

What happens if you’re not around to show you spouse the money stuff? 

Can you imagine the stress you are going to add onto your spouse if something happens to you AND they have no idea how to get into any of the finances in your lives? Don’t let this happen. It’s time to start sharing the money.

You Will Share a Bed, But Not a Bank Account?

I stole this saying from One Bed, One Bank Account: Better Conversations on Money and Marriage by Carrie and Derek Olsen.

Let me ask this: are we really willing to share a house, kids, grandkids, a bed, and everything else – but not a bank account?

Food for thought.

Create Goals, Build Dreams and Plan Your Future

Money touches every single aspect of our lives. Everything.

You and your spouse should sit down together and create your goals, build on your dreams, and plan out where you want to both be TOGETHER in your future.

And guess what?

These dreams, goals and plans will depend on money at some point. Money doesn’t just buy “stuff”, it also buys your time and freedom from a life of working.

Sure, it may work to dream big and plan out goals with separate bank accounts, but how much easier will it be when the dreams and goals go from his and hers to “ours”?

5. Budgeting is SIMPLE with One Bank Account

Since 2015 I have helped over 1,000 families create a budget and some of them refused to combine finances into one account. So we built their budget with separate bank accounts. 

One bank account would pay for the mortgage, the other bank account would pay for groceries. She would buy gifts for the kids at Christmas and he would then transfer money from his account to hers.

Then she would have to add this in as “income” into her budget but then offset it with the 50% she paid for gifts. Then there was a copay he paid at the doctor for one of the kids but since she had the health insurance, they had the discussion if it should just be a wash.

And, she made more than he did (by quite a lot) and he didn’t think it was right that the spending was 50/50 in terms of amount but not a percentage. We decided to give the 50% rule a try instead of splitting the dollar amounts down the middle, but now we were having to get a calculator out to figure out how much each would pay and if that would include overtime he qualified for.

Finally I said: This would be so much easier if we just had one account.

They tried it and it blew their minds —  so much simpler!

3 Tips for Successful Combining of Finances

If you don’t currently share money and you’re thinking of giving it a try, I can already feel your nerves about it. I one hundred percent get it – if it were that simple you probably would be sharing money by now, right?

Here are a few tricks I have seen work over the years when couples make the move to start sharing money.

1. Fair and Equal are Not the Same Thing in a Marriage

This is just my personal opinion, but women spend more money frequently but men spend even more money a few times per year. My wife will spend about 98% of our “Department Store” budget each month. 

Why?

Because I can wear the same clothes for 10 years and still like them. She cannot.

On the flip side, I will spend thousands of dollars on a new camera, a new tool, or a new grill – and this happens maybe 1-2x per year.

She probably still spends more money than me, but then again I didn’t have to push two kids out my belly after 9 months of back pain and 24 hours of labor.

Fair and equal are not the same thing.

2. Baby Steps to a Shared Joint Account is Okay

Many couples have a separate bank account because there was some financial issues in the past and trust was lost.

If this is you, then of course you are hesitant to move all the finances back together and you have every right to feel this way.

In this situation, what if you took a graduated approach to combined finances?

Maybe start with giving login access to each other’s accounts or sharing bank statement with each other?

Get everything out in the open – the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Once this has been accomplished, next open up a joint account and slowly start combining finances to it.

Maybe the first month the account is just for the mortgage and you equally fund it. Then next month you move into groceries, bills, etc.

Over time of the transparency, it will become easier to combine finances versus the ripping the bandaid method.

3. Don’t Let Amounts Get in the Way of the Finances

Chances are you both don’t make the same amount of money.

Maybe one of you works full-time outside of the home for an income and the other works full-time inside the home without an income.

The point is both of you are necessary and both of you contribute to the income – either directly or indirectly.

For years, Andrea made way more money than me.

She was a television news anchor and I was an entry level firefighter. One thing we did really well is we made sure to never call it her money or my money – it was OUR money since it was in OUR bank account together.

Also, remember tip #1: fair and equal are not the same thing. 

One of the saddest truths of today is that 50% of marriages will end in divorce. The #1 cause of divorce in North America is infidelity.

The #2 cause of divorce in North America is money problems and money fights.

I tell all newly weds I meet with that marriage is WORK and it’s 100% worth it. And, if you want to give yourself a giant advantage in a marriage/relationship – then combine the finances.

By doing this, you are essentially removing the #2 cause of divorce today!

Do You Share a Bank Account? 

If yes, why? 

If no, why not?

I would love to hear from you! Leave a comment below and let us all know your thoughts or ideas on one bank account verus separate bank accounts.

God bless and thanks for reading Money Peach!