You Can Make Your Space Your Own

Nothing is worse than being stuck in a home where all of the walls are white and you can’t even make your space your own. Owning a home will allow you to paint the walls how’d you like and make any changes you want to make your living space more customized and comfortable.

You Can’t Get Kicked Out By a Landlord

Renters can get an eviction notice unexpectedly if the owner decides to sell the home or rent it to others at any point of time. Owning your home could relieve this unnecessary stress and conflict that can come out of getting kicked out of your living space.

You know going green is good for the planet, but it can also be good for your wallet. This Earth Day, go green to save green!

1. Carpool (Estimated Cost Savings: $650 - $1,000)

But if you share your ride and the gas bill with just one friend, you each save $650 a year. If four of you carpool, you each save nearly $1,000. Websites like Divide the Ride, eRideShare, and CarPool World can help you find other commuters headed your way.

2. Stop Eating Out (Estimated Cost Savings: Hundreds, if not thousands of dollars)

The typical U.S. family spends $4,000 on meals per year outside the home. Cooking at home will also force you to pay more attention to the ingredients that are going into your food.

3. Rent, Borrow and Freecycle

 (Estimated Cost Savings: Hundreds of dollars)

Did you know that you can go online to find out who has something you can borrow?If you'd rather borrow items from people you know, ask your neighbors and friends before buying a tool or item you won't use that often.

If you’re expecting a tax refund this year, you need a good plan for your money. Be sure to revisit your W-4 form and adjust your federal income tax withholding allowances.

Don’t get caught treating your refund check any differently than you’d treat your weekly or monthly paycheck or if you own a small business, revenue from your customers. Give the money a purpose. Don’t just let it sit in your checking account. If you do, it will quickly vanish after you use it for dining out here, shopping for clothes there, and getting Starbucks every day. Before you know it, you’ll have nothing to show for the refund.

Top 10 Priorities for Your Tax Refund

1. Start or Increase Your Emergency Fund
Without an emergency fund, just one surprising piece of bad news can send you on the debt spiral to financial disaster. Most experts say that your fund should have about six to eight months worth of savings in an easily-accessible interest-bearing account (e.g. an online savings account or money market account). Storing that much away might take months or even years if you’re just taking a little bit out of each paycheck, so use your refund to make a significant deposit in your emergency fund.

2. Pay Off High-Interest Debt
After establishing an emergency fund, the next best thing you can do with your tax refund is to pay off any high-interest debt that you’re carrying. If you have a lot of debt, just putting money in savings is like borrowing money from yourself. Put your refund to work by starting your debt elimination program of choice and paying off any payday loans, title loans, debt consolidation loans, high-interest private student loans, car loans, and of course credit card debt.

3. Spend It on Something You Need
Are you having car trouble, do you need a new winter coat, or have you put off dental work? You need to take care of these essentials, and now that your refund is here, you can cover the cost.

Copyright 2014 brass Media, Inc.

Here's a helpful video explaining why credit is important even if you are too young to need it. Click Read More to watch!

Let's All Cooperate!

Credit Unions are not-for-profit financial service cooperatives, owned and controlled by their members, and operating in a democratic way. What difference does that make? Co-ops are businesses, in many ways like any other business. But a cooperative operates solely for the members' benefit. All co-op businesses run in accordance with seven basic principles, many of which have been part of the co-op philosophy from their beginnings more than 150 years ago.