FREE Planner Addict Bill Tracker.. Print, resize and keep track for the year

Free Planner Bill Tracker because when life gets 

out of control we need to track LOL.. 

DOWNLOAD HERE

Hugs, 

Kristin

4 Top reasons you should be meal planning and FREE PRINTABLES for January

4 Top reasons you should be meal planning

Find the Free January Meal Calender  at the bottom of this post

I have desired to meal plan for a very long time. It just sounds so June Cleaver. Finally, finally, after what feels like forever in my head,  I took the plunge and made the effort to meal plan for the month of January. 

21 days it becomes a habit right?? 

Ok so step 1. I think about my goals for the year! What types of foods should our family be eating? Now remember, we are on a yearlong family weight loss challenge, so carefully constructing the “perfect menu” is a must have around here. Ok so maybe the word perfect is too much of an embellishment. Healthy and whole sounds better haha..  Step 2.  Looking at my budget for food. Our family has some very ambitious financial goals for 2016 which means not spending exorbitant amounts of money on special, dietary, healthy foods right?  I will be writing an article shortly on how we add healthy, whole foods into a restricted budget in a practical way. Step 3. What will everyone be willing to eat? “MOM! Veggies again, come on.. Where are the carbs.” My children may be teens, shortly approaching adulthood but they will be the first to whine and complain at the lack of variety so adding variety and a dash of pizazz into our families menu is an absolute for everyone. It’s also important with young children as well. Never assume that young children will or will not like something. Don’t inflict your negative thoughts about food onto your children. Offer them plenty of variety and let them experience all the wonderful colors, textures and flavors that healthy food has to offer. 

 

 Here are the 5 most important reasons to food plan…

1. Meal planning reduces household stress. Menu planning ahead will bring order into your already busy and possibly chaotic life. Take time to plan ahead. A stress filled life is very likely to bring on a mired of other issues so do yourself and your family a favor and plan out those meals. I recommend a month ahead because it takes more energy and reminding to sit down every single week to fill out a menu. A month at a time is a great start

2. Meal planning creates a nutritious eating environment. The best and quickest way to dive into the habit of unhealthy eating is to not to be prepared. Last second choices generally lead to unhealthy choices. When you plan your menu go ahead and google healthy meals, google family friendly meals, diabetic meals etc.. For my family it is low carb, high fiber and plenty of protein and veggies After you gather your meals then print out the recipes and hole punch them, stick them into a dollar store binder for quick reference on the day of preparation and voila a reference menu binder .

3.Meal planning saves Money. How many times have you been rushed and not prepared so at the last second decide, “We are ordering in?”, “we are going out to dinner”. What better way to blow the budget. I’m not saying that you should not make time for a family night out but generally speaking, a nice home cooked meal at night is the perfect way to enjoy each other and not break the bank, while planning ahead. 

4.Meal planning brings families together. The fourth and finally reason on my list is probably the most important. Family together time. Statistics show American families eat less than 5 meals a week together. That is sad and disheartening especially considering that recent studies link regular family dinnertime to lower rates of substance abuse, depression and teen pregnancy. Also it has been found that eating a meal together promotes higher grade-point averages and self-esteem. Studies also show that conversations at dinnertime are more a more influential vocabulary-booster than reading and the stories told around the table help young children build resilience. The best part is that regular family meals also lower the rates of obesity and eating disorders in children and adolescents. 

Thanks for Visiting

Be Inspired to plan

Kristin

Meal Planner January Blue Here 

 Meal Planner January Green Here

 Meal Planner January Orange Here

Small Business Notes and Printable Tax Season

If you have any questions do not hesitate to contact me at intentionallyinspired@gmail.com. 

Have a great day and be intentional..  

Here are some notes from the scope.  

Kristin Zolkowski

http://intentionallyinspired.blogspot.com/

intentionallyinspired@gmail.com

https://twitter.com/kcfarmfresh

https://www.facebook.com/intentionallyhealthy/

https://www.facebook.com/kristinjalowieccastellano

I live in Wisconsin, Wife mom of 4 2 adults 2 teens that think they are adults. I have been in business since 1996, Moving business, Sign Business (4-6 employees) Bookkeeping, concierge, in home daycare center, cleaning, desktop publishing, logo design. Moved in June to a small farmhouse. I just cut off the last of my clients letting them know I would not be doing their taxes this upcoming season. I am not up to keep up with the ever changing laws J Except for whoomyself.. 

Approaching this as though you know nothing. Sorry if some of this sounds very basic but believe it or not some people are not fully aware of the most basic IRS rules and since the laws are changing from year to year tax preparers are now required to obtain a certified license for preparing taxes in an office.

When you decide that your blog or other business is ready to become more than a hobby per the IRS, there are a few things you need to consider;

Business Structures, DBA, yes

Business or hobby ??

The IRS will not allow tax deductions if your business, be it blogging or any other business is categorized as a hobby. To claim your deductions, you must first show the IRS that you are running a legitimate business that is generating a profit 3 out of 5 of the most recent years. Some Other things the IRS may might look at is the amount of time and activity that you put into your business and whether or not you depend on income from it and does it how profit potential.

Estimated Taxes are Due April 15, June 15, September 15 and January 15 (with some exceptions for holidays, etc.). If you don't pay your estimated taxes in a reasonable timely manner, you may owe an additional tax penalty.

What you are calculating is the amount you must pay for self-employment tax on your income, which is the combined Social Security and Medicare taxes paid by an employee and an employer. Because you run your own business, you required to pay both the employee and the employer portions. Self-employment tax must be paid whether or not you owe any federal income tax.

Self-employment tax when you are putting money aside for your estimated income taxes, don't forget to set aside additional money for self-employment tax. From the perspective of the IRS, working as a blogger means you run your own business and that your income from that income is taxed.

Keeping Track of Expenses: I cannot stress enough how important Good record keeping is. I was audited by the Irs years ago. I made several costly mistakes but I was forgiven of those mistakes with a warning by the IRS, solely based on the fact that I kept my paperwork extremely organized. They were able to wiz through thousands of receipts and expense. This was much better than dropping a load of jumbled receipts on their desk and expecting them to calculate them.

Ideas for keeping track of expenses and deductions: There is a giant Plethora of options for keeping track of expense ranging from simple excel spreadsheets to $400 + accounting programs where Programs like Quickbooks, Peachtree and Quicken Etc. Quickbooks hands down is probably, still, after all these years the consumers choice. (Side note: Keep a small ledger in car to keep track of business mileage. The Irs will ask if you keep track of your mileage. )

I cannot stress enough!! Keep receipts, keep them in categories. Print them, ask for them, and get them. (Stubs, PayPal receipts, emails etc.)

a special tax rule allows you to deduct up to $5,000 in start-up expenses the first year you are in business, and then deduct the remainder, if any, in equal amounts over the next 15 years.

For an expense related to your business to be deductible, it needs to be both “ordinary” and “necessary”. No matter what industry you are in, that is the standard for the IRS. So, any time that you question whether something is deductible, as a first step, ask yourself is this “ordinary” and “necessary”?

An ordinary expense is one that is common and accepted in your industry. It’s the one time that you care about what your competitors are doing. No matter what your mother says, it does matter whether everyone else is doing it, too.

A necessary expense is one that is helpful and appropriate for your trade or business. You don’t have to prove that you couldn’t be in business without the expense – more or less, it needs to make good business sense.

You’ll need to retain excellent records with annotations about the expenses

Always check with a tax professional if you are unsure if something is or is not deductible. Call IRS during tax season or check out the interactive tool at 

 https://www.irs.gov/uac/Interactive-Tax-Assistant-%28ITA%29-1  or H&R Block

Deduction Categories: (remember to err on the side of caution when it comes to the IRS and only deduct the business portion of items you are claiming.)

Corporation incorporates fees. Advertising & Marketing (Head Shots, promotional materials, advertising spots on other blogs, business cards, signs, printable, flyers, ad spots, newspaper spots or advertisements, Logo design etc.)Trademark and copyright fees,  Depreciation (Long-Term Assets Long-term assets are things you purchase for your business that will last for more than one year,(must be used more than 50% for business such as computers, office equipment, cars, and machinery. Long-term assets you buy before your business begins are not considered part of your start-up costs. Instead, you must treat these purchases like any other long-term asset you buy after your business begins: You must either depreciate the item over several years or deduct the cost in one year under Section 179. However, you can’t take depreciation or Section 179 deductions until after your business begin.)Office Supplies (Tax software, Accountant, Tax prep etc, paper, printing, ink, pens etc.) Postage, PO Box, Materials and supplies to create a post that makes you money (including shipping if applicable), Prizes, Gifts and giveaways. If you make the gift you can only deduct the cost of creating the item, for example I make bath salts and sell them on etsy. I can deduct the cost; let’s say 2 dollars that I paid to make the bath salts. NOT the full retail value. Vehicle, travel and meal expenses (blogger meetups, small business seminars and blogging conferences) any sort of Education related to your business (including but not limited to eBooks, courses, seminars etc.) ANYTHING Downloaded for business purposes, Costs and expenses to run your blog (Domain name, Webhost, Logo Design, Web templates, WordPress plugins and costs, Cost of contractor to help you, Internet Fees and Phone Fees as well as cell phone fees. If you use the cell for personal you figure a percentage to deduct for business. Let’s say you pay 100 a month and use your phone 50% for business then you can deduct $50 a month for cell phone fees as well as additional app charges related to your business. Digital Cameras, Design Software, memory cards or other peripherals and or equipment. Dues and Subscriptions, Paid websites for subscriber newsletters etc like mailchimp,

Equipment, Material and supplies used solely for the purpose of creating an engaging blog post; here are some examples: http://www.taxgirl.com

• Your blog is a baking blog and you make a full course meal, soup to nuts. Is it deductible? Perhaps the cost of the sourdough bread is … but not the rest of the meal.
• Your blog is a baking blog and you make three loaves of sourdough bread. Is deductible? Probably the cost of one loaf – that’s the part you needed for your review, right? But not three. The other two are likely to be eaten for personal use and are not deductible.
• Your blog is a general food blog and you make lasagna for your entire family. Is it deductible? Maybe. If your blog is a “family food blog”, then perhaps the family-sized portion is deductible. If your blog focuses solely on a niche, like healthy eating or cooking with noodles, then only the portion attributable to you, for the purposes of testing, is deductible.

Business Use of Your Home' Not a fan of this. It’s a red flag for IRS If you use part of your home for your business, you may be able to deduct expenses for items such as mortgage interest, insurance, utilities, repairs, and depreciation. To qualify you must meet the following criteria:

a) The business part of your home must be used exclusively and regularly for your trade or business. However, there are exceptions for daycare facilities or storage of inventory/product samples.

b) The business part of your home must be:

- The principal place of business, or

- A place where you meet or deal with patients, clients, or customers in the normal course of your business, or

Some Apps that I came across to help you are (Software programs Quickbooks, Peachtree, Quicken)

AndroMoney FREE

Expense Manager by Bishinews FREE

Concur

Small Business Accounting Pro FREE

Daily Expense FREE

Book Keeper Accounting and Invoice FREE

Real Quick I was asked “If I am sent a product for review is this taxable” Right now there is not a lot of information from the IRS indicating the specifics on this. If you make money generated because of doing this review my answer will be yes you may need to count it as income. Sorry.

 Click on Arrow For printable

Full Notes(Click On Arrow)

 

Note to Self 2015

As 2015 is coming to a close, the all too indifferent realization that I let yet another year pass without chasing my goals, is upon me.

Ok so I did create a y
Youtube channel and actually upload some videos. That is impressive for my very passive, procrastinating personality. This is all great until one day I get an email from adsense stating that I will never be able to earn revenue with them for breaking their policy's and procedures. WHAT! I can not believe it. I am not able to make a few bucks with youtube now. After all the hard work up uploading and creating and winning viewers, I now find out I am a convicted adsense felon?? Really?..  I feel horrible. So what do I do? Yes you guessed it! I appeal it like any smart, driven, youtube wanna would. They reply 2 months later with,"Sorry we will not reinstate your account for reasons we are not allowed to tell you." Oh brother, this just gets better and better. Are you kidding, "for reasons you are not allowed to disclose to me" the person whose heart you have crushed in one fall swoop.. Oh adsense ooh adsense let down your hair.. Boo Hoo.. Oh well time to find another opportunity, It's all in the Lord's hands.

I think it helps to have a husband who is very serious about doing what we say.

So we made the big move to the farm. Boy, that in itself is an accomplishment. In me (without the Lord) I would just lay in a field and sleep the day away, hoping when I wake up all is well. Everything is good and finished exactly the way I envisioned it lol.

Soon after moving in to our dream house I realized getting internet would be no easy task. We
searched day and night for weeks for a company that would provide internet to our little home 3 miles from McDonalds. Yes, isn't that ridiculous. 3 Miles! Finally a door opened and the internet light shone through brightly. Yay, finally we have internet. We are told off the bat no streaming. Hmm internet without steaming? Is that internet at all? Not sure but it's better than nothing.

Now, I realize uploading videos may be a dream of the past so I go back to my first love of blogging. Yes there are those crazy mommas out there making 6 figures blogging. I read about them all the time in my Pinterest feed lol.

I am not interested in making 6 figures. I am interested in helping to bring a few dollars into our home while I share my passion. Ok sounds easy hey? Hmm Nahhh. Ok so we start over yet again.
My youtube channel us Finding My Homestead. That is what I am crazy about! Not building an empire but building a safe, warm, cozy home for my family, which at this moment is a challenge to even write. You see my darling son, whom I raised alone for 10 years, alone, is now 13 and for 7 years things have been over the top problematic with him. Don't get me wrong my son is actually one of the most amazing people I have ever met. He has a heart the size of New York. He is smart and crafty and sweet and lovable.

Now as a parent, as his mom, I love him like crazy and never want to give up on him. Although it feels as though I am dealing with 5 children in one with him. He has arrested development and physical problems as well, which can make the in's and out's of daily life very very rigorous and emotional. So as mom I will never give up but as a human being I fall very short of the "do not give up" stance.

Well any how blogging is my passion. I know that I probably need to start over with wordpress so thats what I will do. My dream is to meet like minded people along the way and maybe even touch a heart or two.

Today I am inspired to begin YET again ..
Be inspired

FREE Freebie Digital Vintage French Fleurs For Home Design (Printable)

 

Free Vintage French Fleurs Art
Click on Image and Right Click/Save

These are PNG images. 5 inches by 5 inches 300 dpi.

These are for personal use or commercial use if altered and not sold as is! 

Please be sure to read the terms of use on the download page. Thank you!

These are great for digital crafts & scrap booking as well as transfer art to muslin or any other fabric. 

Graphic Fairy has 12 Great transfer methods Here. 

Enjoy!!
If you get a chance please let me know what you think of these:) Inspire!!!

Free Vintage French Fleurs Art
Click on Image and Right Click/Save

These are PNG images. 5 inches by 5 inches 300 dpi.

These are for personal use or commercial use if altered and not sold as is! 

Please be sure to read the terms of use on the download page. Thank you!

These are great for digital crafts & scrap booking as well as transfer art to muslin or any other fabric. 

Graphic Fairy has 12 Great transfer methods Here. 

Enjoy!!
If you get a chance please let me know what you think of these:) Inspire!!!