Hello, readers! Welcome back to the Hoods Tax & Accounting blog! We’re delighted to be able to share up-to-date information about taxes, savings, and financial literacy—giving you the tools you need to meet your short and long term goals. Whether you’re managing taxes for your small business or wondering how to take advantage of certain tax credits, we’ve got you covered! Our previous post about the differences in subcontractor and independent consultant taxes is available for reading and we hope you’ll return to the blog for our upcoming series on cryptocurrency!
 
Late summer means vacationing to tropical locales, brunching with friends under the noonday sun, and shopping for the impending return to school. With a long list of potential expenses already pulling on your wallet, it’s easy to end up overspending on items which were never on your list in the first place. Today, we’ll be exploring what impulse spending is, how you’re susceptible, and why it could be hurting you in the long run. Finally, we’ll go over a handful of ways you can curb impulse spending and keep those extra dollars for yourself!
 
What is Impulse Spending
 
We’ve all been there. You’re standing near the cash register, ready to checkout, and just there—a well-placed, beautifully displayed cache of candy. You decide to grab a chocolate because you deserve a treat and it’s only two dollars. What’s the big deal? 
 
That’s an impulse purchase. 
 
An impulse purchase, or impulse buy, is any purchase you weren’t planning to make. Some can be small, like the example we just went through. Others can be quite large. If you’ve ever walked into a big-box store and felt the urge to drop seven-thousand dollars on a hot tub or trampoline—that’s an impulse. We cannot help most of our impulses; they’re subliminal and inspired by a range of factors outside of our control. However, most of us can control whether we follow through on the impulse to buy something we know we don’t need. We’ll provide you with the tips you need to resist impulse spending. Keep reading!
 
Why Reigning in Impulse Spending Is Important
 
On average, Americans spend $2,196 on impulse buys each year. Yes, those chocolates and trampolines do add up after a while. Imagine if you put the same amount towards your thirty-year mortgage? You’d shave off the grand total of your house by over sixty-five thousand dollars. About ninety percent of Americans say they indulge in impulse spending, with nineteen percent saying they spent more than one-hundred dollars on their last impulse purchase. Amazingly, nearly sixty percent of all purchases are unplanned. In 2020, the top five impulse buys included cleaning supplies, hand sanitizer, toilet paper, hand soap, and canned. These impulse purchases can tell us a lot about ourselves as a society and what we value, but they can also reveal our fears and deep-seated insecurities. We’ll discuss the reasons why we impulse buy in-depth later.
 
Right now, we’ll focus on how impulse spending might be negatively affecting your life. Impulse spending might be holding you back from reaching your long term financial goals. Do you look around at the end of the month wondering where all of your money went? Chances are your money is going toward unplanned and unregulated expenses. Furthermore, impulse spending can be a major point of contention between you and your partner. We all want to be able to trust our significant other with shared money and impulse spending may be degrading that bond of trust. Finally, impulse buying is often a response to feelings of unhappiness and lack within ourselves. As we know, most purchases won’t have a lasting positive impact on your emotional state, but will have a lasting negative impact on your pockets. 
 
The Psychology Behind Impulse Spending
 
Who is most likely to make purchases impulsively? Men might believe women are, but the opposite is actually true. Men are more likely than women to make an impulse buy, with the percentage of men who regularly make impulse purchases being 26% and the percentage of women who regularly make impulse purchases being 16%. Research suggests extroverted people, as well, are more likely to buy impulsively. This may be because the personality factors linked to impulse buying—openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism—also correlate to extroversion.  People who are highly susceptible to stress will often use impulse buying to manage their stress levels. Distracted or tired people have less mental capacity to make good choices, therefore they are also more likely to buy impulsively. On the whole, people who feel confident, complete, and fulfilled by their lives are less likely to make impulse purchases. 
 
Emotions shouldn’t play a part in how we spend our money, but they often do. There are four emotional factors which contribute to impulse purchasing. They are:

1. Immediate Gratification 

 
This is when purchases are used as a pick-me-up on a stressful day. If you’ve been working hard or are exceptionally bored, it's easy to justify a small purchase which will bring you joy and excitement for a brief period of time. These purchases are often food-based (e.x. Fast food, candy), entertainment-based (ex. a movie ticket, a book), or appearance-based (e.x. cosmetics, clothes). 

1. Loss Aversion 

 
This is when purchases are made out of a fear of missing out on something good. Perhaps you’ve noticed your friends are frequenting a once-a-year sale or you received a newsletter in your inbox detailing a twenty-four-hour sale. You might justify this purchase by saying it’s a limited time offer and you’re saving money. More than half of shoppers impulse buy because of a sale. The truth is, marketers understand our very human desire to take advantage of opportunities we fear won’t come around again. 

1. Stockpiling

 
This is when purchases are the result of a fear of running out of a supply of something. In 2020, we saw people rush to stores in droves to buy toilet paper out of a fear there wouldn’t be any (for some reason). Well, there were toilet paper shortages in some places—because of this fear-based activity. Alternatively, you might stockpile more of your favorite shampoo than you technically need because another brand of shampoo once discontinued your go-to. Again, this is emotion-based spending. 

1. Biased Evaluation of Use

 
This is when we overestimate how much use we’ll get out of a product in its lifetime. We might justify a clothing purchase by saying how much we’ll wear the item, or a kitchenware purchase by how much we’ll use it to cook. The truth is, if we look in our closets and kitchens, there are plenty of clothes and gadgets we don’t ever use. Regardless of how much we liked them when we first bought them. 
 
Another factor which contributes to how we spend our money, which is a little harder to pin down or solve, is how we were raised. The state of our household finances when we were growing up can play a large role in how we choose to spend our money as adults. If your parents spent money when they were feeling low or fought excessively over small purchases, you might be inherently emotionally predisposed to impulse buying. Being aware of how we’ve been influenced can go a long way towards altering our conditioned behavior. 
 
Advertisers are knowledgeable about psychological weaknesses and use these weaknesses to make sales. In advertising, these psychological weaknesses are called pain points. Be conscious of how ads and promotions might be appealing to your particular pain points to avoid falling into any marketing traps. 
 
Methods for Avoiding Impulse Spending
 
There are a ton of ways to avoid impulse spending and you really need to find the one which works best for you. Most financial institutions will recommend making a budget and simply sticking to your budget. Obviously, anything which hasn’t been factored into your budget will not be purchased, thus eliminating impulse spending. However, it's not always this simple. You have to be realistic when creating a budget. If you know you like the occasional cup of coffee in the morning or a night out on the town with friends, you shouldn’t try to cut these things out. Instead, you should plan for these expenses. Budget five or six coffees and one or two nights out into your monthly budget. This removes the impulse from the purchase, rendering you guilt-free. 
 
Beyond a budget, you have to determine what’s important to you in the long term so you can stop prioritizing short term gratification. What are your financial goals? How long have you estimated before you reach them? The next step is to take stock of your current finances and see how much of your money is being spent impulsively. Recheck the numbers and see how much faster you would reach your monetary goals if you reallocated your impulse buy expenditure towards them? The answer may give you the motivation you need to save. 
 
As we discussed, our emotional state can drive us to make decisions we wouldn’t otherwise make. Ever heard the saying, “don’t go grocery shopping when you’re hungry”? Well, this applies in all scenarios. You shouldn’t shop when you’re overwhelmed, tired, stressed, or hungry. For the same reason, you shouldn’t shop later at night. Potentially sleepy from a large meal and few glasses of wine, your critical thinking skills and inhibitions are lowered. It’s a recipe for disaster. 
 
The tried-and-true method for cutting down on impulse spending is to wait before making a purchase. Chances are, within a week or even a day, the impulse will have gone and you’ll be left wondering why you wanted the item in the first place. In this vein, don’t allow timed deals to force your hand. A clock counting down the minutes until the end of the 50% Off BOGO Sale might induce a feeling of low-grade anxiety, but just remind yourself the sale will be back around eventually and you can wait. 
 
It’s recommended you bring cash to the store and only the amount you need. This can curb overspending. A study done by Bankrate.com found that people who used charge cards at restaurants spent fifty-percent more on average than those who used cash. This may be because of the physical element of holding bills in our hands and being unwilling to part with the feeling.
 
Another tip is to take stock of what you already own. You’ll avoid buying things you already have that you forgot about and may come to develop a deeper appreciation for what you currently own. 
 
A great piece of advice is translating the cost of an item into time. For example, if you make $14 an hour after tax and a dress you want costs $98, then the dress costs seven hours’ worth of work. Is it worth it, though? This added bit of mental work may be enough to prevent you splurging in the moment. 
 
The last two tips are small but effective. If you’re shopping online, we recommend you read reviews and put everything you want in the cart. Pay attention to the bad reviews especially. They may be enough to turn you off of a purchase. The effect of putting everything into the shopping cart and then leaving the site is a feeling of low-grade satisfaction. You’ve picked out everything you want to buy, which gives your brain a small jolt of dopamine, and might be all you really needed. 
 
 
We hope you’ll utilize these tips to avoid impulse spending and reach your financial goals. For more information and advice on saving, spending, taxes and more—make sure you return to the Hoods Tax & Accounting blog! We’re here to help in any way we can! If you have any questions or are interested in a consultation, we are providing meetings over Zoom. For any other assistance, please reach out by calling or emailing! Thank you for reading. Until next time! 

​While we all want to open our arms and our wallets to our loved ones and a big turkey dinner, 2020 might not be the best time to do that. While this might be a hard holiday pill to swallow, it's all going to be okay.

Thanksgiving is in the air, and we know that many of our Goose Creek friends and customers are getting excited to gather with their loved ones to celebrate. While everything is still very up in the air and uncertain, we hope that when choosing to gather with your loved ones this year that you choose to do so safely and with your loved ones in mind. 2020 is the year of smaller Thanksgivings, outdoor gatherings, gatherings with bigger smiles and fewer hugs, and sharing a meal over zoom and FaceTime. This might be a different holiday season for so many reasons, and we are here to support and offer our comfort and condolences. It will look much different in our homes this year too, so we sympathize and understand how many of you are feeling right now.

While the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays might be different when it comes to how far we can and cannot travel and how many of our loved ones we will be seeing, many of us might be tempted to make it look and feel the same. This is a quick route towards spending way more than is needed right now or ultimately what you actually want to do. Remember, Christmas is just a few short weeks after Thanksgiving, so make sure to spread out all of your holiday budgets wisely. With all of these ideas in mind, we were inspired to write this week's blog. We wanted to share a few tips and suggestions on how to save money through the 2020 holiday season, and what that can mean for you and your loved ones.

TRAVEL BILLS
Many of us won't be traveling for the holidays this year. Instead, we will be staying put and creating new traditions with our bubbles, our close friends, the relatives we live closest to, or just with our nuclear family members. While this is still an incredible way to celebrate the holidays, it can be difficult not to see the whole family or all of your friends during this time of year. The silver lining of all of this? You can save hundreds of dollars by not spending it on plane tickets, hotel rooms, and other travel expenses. You can save money not driving those long distances, save money not having to put a lot of work into your car to make those long drives, and you can also save a little peace of mind not having to worry about driving in the snow or ice when many of us haven't done that in years. Instead, make time to plan Zoom Calls, Facetime Calls, and group phone calls. Save this unused travel money to help pay for the shipping on all of the Christmas presents you have your eyes on for your loved ones, save it for when you can travel to see your family again, or save it to help out with those surprise extra bills that might appear at the end of the year. Don't forget, once we hit January 1, 2021, tax day will be here faster than you might think. Maybe saving a few dollars here and there can help with paying your taxes as well.

TO BLACK FRIDAY OR NO?
Black Friday has already started for a lot of our favorite big box stores with in-store deals, discounts, and online deals. While the big Black Friday shopping might not happen as it has in the past, that doesn't mean that it's going to stop or slow down online Black Friday or Cyber Monday sales. We've mentioned this in previous blogs, but as we all reach for our credit cards to buy everything we come across in our Black Friday shopping sprees and going with our "treat yourself" mentality to make these difficult holidays feel a little bit better, maybe step on the brakes. Trying to avoid these big shopping sprees right now can be a huge benefit to you and your bank account. If you're still planning on shopping, set a spending limit and a budget for yourself. This includes if you are planning to do your holiday shopping on Black Friday or Cyber Monday. Pick who you are shopping for, how much you're going to spend on each person, and stick with it. We know a big Christmas for your loved ones can be a knee jerk reaction to a difficult year, but be financially smart about it. Outside of budgeting your cash flow, make sure that these plans include putting a spending limit on your credit cards. You can come up with every excuse to use your credit cards when your Christmas budget has been depleted, but try and go easy with the plastic. Can you imagine the gift it would be to start 2021 financially stable with little to no outstanding balance on your credit cards? We also recommend that if you are planning to shop big on thanksgiving, try and shop small. Invest in local small businesses, local artists, or creators on websites like Etsy or Redbubble for all of your shopping needs. These are the people that need your Black Friday money more than Walmart or Target. If you're investing in local artists and small businesses, this is an investment in your local community and local economy.

TURKEY TIME
We know that Thanksgiving comes with this beautiful picture of a giant turkey with as many sides and desserts surrounding it that can fit on the table. When having a smaller 2020 Thanksgiving, why put that pressure on your family, yourself, your refrigerator, or your wallet? There is nothing in the rule book that says you have to get a huge 20-pound turkey for the holiday. There are smaller birds available, and the option of only getting half a turkey or just a fantastic cut of a turkey breast is out there too and at a much lower price than your standard turkey. This can help save a ton of money on your initial Thanksgiving grocery bill, and it can also help with your leftover situation. Not everyone is on board with eating Thanksgiving leftovers for days on end. So why buy a ton of food that's just going to go to waste? Also, there is no rule saying that you have to eat turkey for Thanksgiving. If you want to try a different protein, go totally vegetarian or vegan, or just have your favorite fast food to celebrate the day, that's okay too. However, if you end up with a big turkey and a large number of leftovers, it can help save you money on the following week's grocery bill following Turkey day. As you plan your turkey day menu, plan a menu for the week to follow that can reuse as many leftovers as possible. The key is to pick a wide variety of recipes that doesn't make you feel like you're just eating turkey for a week straight.

Also, save on the drinks. Many people who enjoy adult beverages during the holidays might go get some wine or beer for the day. Instead of buying multiple bottles of wine or cases of beer, choose a cocktail or punch to share. If you're going to be preparing a traditional meal, use Costco or Sam's Club to help save money. Also, keep an eye on online deals and coups. Don't forget, if you are hosting a small gathering, a potluck Thanksgiving is a perfect way for everyone invited to save money!

SIMPLE AND CHIC
While the Griswald's would disagree with us, keeping your decorations for Thanksgiving and Christmas on the simpler side can help you save money too. It's tempting because right now every store you walk into is already bursting with Christmas decorations. They might be calling out to you to redo all of your decorations this year, but stick with what you already have. Believe us, this will be a huge money saver and can help reduce your stress and anxiety about decorating the perfect house and home for your in-laws to see this year. Take that pressure off, you're staying safe and saving money by decorating with what you already have!

A LITTLE MORE, A LITTLE LESS
While many of us are still having a hard time adjusting to the fact that Thanksgiving will look different this year, and dealing with being away from our loved ones, we will still have food on our tables. Regardless of it being a big turkey dinner or a pizza, there will be something there. Take some of the extra money you're going to be saving by following these tips and donate to those in need.

PLANNING FOR WHATS NEXT
We know that Turkey Day and Christmas might be what has your full attention is focused on right now. What about the day AFTER Thanksgiving? Just like the day after Halloween and Valentine's day, a lot of Thanksgiving food items will be significantly marked down. Buy the non-perishable items that are on sale and save them for Christmas dinner or help lighten the load in your grocery bills over the next couple of weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. While everyone is participating in this year's unique and socially distanced black Friday events, head to the grocery store instead and save big for the next few weeks and beyond.

The great thing about Thanksgiving can be the goals you set for yourself financially, and being able to reach them without stress. This can be your reason for the season and your reason to celebrate without breaking the bank. Enjoy the little things this year, and be ready to financially step into 2021. Remember, if you are looking for the best accounting services in Goose Creek, the best tax preparation in Goose Creek, business consulting in Goose Creek, bookkeeping in Goose Creek, or payroll services in Goose Creek, we are here for you! Our phone lines and inboxes are waiting for you. Don't hesitate! Please stay safe, everyone. We will see you soon!

Even though the school year has started, it's never too early to start saving for college! With how strange this year has been, give yourself and your fiances something to look forward to!

Hello, Goose Creek! We hope you're doing well. From our family to yours, we continue to be so thankful for your love and support during this crazy year, after tax time, and while the world is still a little strange. We are always here to help you and your family prepare financially for whatever goals or challenges you might be wanting to reach or overcome. 2020 has taught us to prepare for the unexpected, and we are here to continue facing this year head-on with you. It's not over yet, so who knows what it could bring!

In our last two blogs, we talked about saving money when it comes to buying school supplies and other necessary things for the school year. Saving as much as you can right now, we understand, is very important to all of our Goose Creek friends and families. While finances might be a little more secure than they were six or seven months ago, we are all aware that this could change in an instant. We hope our last two blogs helped calm you a little and prepare you for this current school year, or even the next. In this two-part blog, we are going to go a step beyond. For many parents and students, our last blog might have been outdated because many of them are planning on heading to college next year. Some of our adult readers might be thinking about going back to college or have the time time to finally go to college, too. While everything is so unknown, education is still an important expense and one that shouldn't be taken lightly. So, we wanted to dedicate this blog to all of our readers and their family members who are thinking about college or are finally taking the steps to go back to college! These are some of the top tips and suggestions on how to save money to pay for your college tuition.

There is so much that goes into applying and getting into college that can make the process very overwhelming and daunting. We don't want money to be one of them. We at least want to take that heavy burden off of you as best we can. You or your children have worked hard to get to the day where you submit your applications, and you deserve the best ways to make your dreams possible, not be prevented due to financial burden. Think about it, according to Forbes, the average cost per year for tuition ranges between $10,000 to $22,000 for public state schools, while private universities can range between $36,000 to $55,000 and more every year. Add on all of your textbooks, living expenses, and possible travel expenses, and this can become quite a hefty bill. For our parents, you need to make sure that your financial standings and responsibilities are in place before turning your attention to a college savings fund. This can help you get the loans you need and be financially prepared while still being able to care for and provide for your family. If you are paying for school on your own, this all still rings true.

TIP ONE: Start Saving!
You can begin saving for your child's higher education from the moment they're born or from the moment you decide it's time to go back to college. According to the New York Times, one of the best savings accounts to use is a 529. It's a simple plan to use and to understand. You take the simple steps of opening one up and then you decide how your money is going to be invested. You can contribute as much taxed income as you'd like to this account over as many years as you'd like. What is really appealing is that your investment will grow tax-free and can be withdrawn without capital gain, as long as the money is used to pay for higher education. Also, a 529 can give you a state tax benefit on all the contributions you make to the plan in 34 states, according to the New York Times. You can begin automated payments to the account once it's open, you can ask friends and family members to contribute, you can ask your employers to match your contributions as part of your contract, and you can even earn cash for your plan by spending money. Certain credit card companies will pay into your 529 when you spend certain amounts on their card or reward you with cashback options into your 529! Starting to save is always a great starting place, and there are many ways to do so. You just have to find the plan that works best for you.

TIP TWO: Scholarships & Grants
The burden of saving for college doesn't have to be on your shoulders alone as a part or as an individual. You support and push your child to succeed in school, have them participate in after school activities, and have them give back to the community. All of these attributes can pay them back in the form of scholarships and grants. Also, have them take AP or International Baccalaureate classes to help them get larger scholarships and grants based on their GPAs, college credits so you have less time at school to pay for, and the opportunity to go to a better school more affordably. You can also do the research together and see what scholarships and grants are available to your child. There might be more out there than you think. You can even go outside the box of the internet and talk to your child's guidance counselor. They are more than happy to add their help to the mix. If you're an adult heading back to school or going to college for the first time, don't think you are excluded from these options. Do your research, you will be surprised at the number of potential scholarships and grants that are just out there waiting to give you money. You just have to put the effort into looking for them.

According to Capital One Bank, more than 80% of students who go to college receive some kind of grant, aid, or scholarship. This can help the money you've saved stretch even further. Plus, leaving your child with as little debt or loans to pay back after they graduate allows them to have a healthy and successful opportunity to grow and build their finances as an adult.

TIP THREE: Reasonable Challenge
No matter when you start saving for college, you honestly don't know how much you'll end up owing until you have to sign on the dotted line. When sitting down with your budget and savings plan, make an honest and reasonable goal for how much you and your family can save and how much you want to save by the time you or your child is ready to go to school. You will still need to pay for everything in between now and then, and it's important to make the most of your life before, during, and after you or your child goes to college. Don't beat yourself up if you need to slow down your contributions for an emergency or two. You can pick up from where you left off. Just don't give up on saving once you've hit a bump or challenge.

How is your saving process going so far? Have you started to consider saving or having you already been saving? Are these new ideas to you or are they going to help the road you're already on? We'd love to hear from you about that in the comments below. If you have any questions or comments about saving for college between now and the second part of this blog, please don't hesitate to reach out. We are here to help you and your family be as financially prepared as possible. Remember, if you are looking for the best accounting services in Goose Creek, the best tax preparation in Goose Creek, business consulting in Goose Creek, bookkeeping in Goose Creek, or payroll services in Goose Creek, we are here for you! Our phone lines and inboxes are waiting for you. Don't hesitate! Please stay safe, everyone. We will see you soon!

Keeping a watchful eye on your finances is always important. During these uncertain times, it is more important than ever.

Keeping a close watch on your purse strings is a necessity. With so much unknown about this year, knowing exactly where your finances stand and how to keep them stable has become a huge priority for most Americans. Since March of this year, over 3 million Americans have filed for unemployment, according to Forbes. Juggling how this pandemic has affected your income and how it will affect your daily and monthly spending could become a huge focus for you and your family. While staying healthy and figuring out new school and work scheduled are our first priorities, it is easy to get overwhelmed with how to deal with these potentially drastic changes in your finances. How do you decide what to cut out? How can you change your spending? What are the necessities that can't be cut out, and how do you make these decisions with the best outcome for your family?

According to Forbes, an estimated 49% of the American population was living paycheck to paycheck even before the pandemic hit. This left no room for extra savings or a nest egg to fall back on. Unemployment has helped, but even that has seen a drastic change since its first wave with the national stimulus checks. Many people have been left without enough to cover their basic needs. The first stimulus check and the additional $600 from the government added to unemployment checks were just short term solutions. What can we do now to help make our bills, keep a roof over our heads, and keep food on the table?

THE NEW BUDGET
You sit down every month and track what you're earning and what you're spending. You create a solid budget based on your calculations that takes care of your bills, your family's needs, and hopefully goes towards a little fun. If your paycheck has been hit or changed due to the pandemic, your budget will have to be retooled. Try and figure out how much of a cut your salary has gone through and try and cut that much out of your monthly spending. Please remember that while you're cutting your budget, your retirement planning and savings still needs your attention. If you can keep paying into those, that is ideal. If you are unable to do so, don't panic. Instead of adding to them, try not touching them unless you have to. Consider what you have in savings during this time, too. If it is needed, remember these funds have been put aside for an emergency.

While the stimulus check will not be part of your 2020 taxes and is being treated as forgiven money, the additional $600 and the now $300 added to your unemployment checks will be taxable income. If you've taken the highest amount in unemployment without choosing to take any taxes out, please prepare for what you will owe in your 2020 taxes. If you can, choose to take out some taxes to make your next tax season a little less painful. Also, try and avoid the temptation of online shopping and avoid making 'panic purchases". Instead of using your extra time to scroll through your favorite shopping sites, sit down and create a brand new long term financial strategy. We have no idea how long this might last, so planning ahead is going to be your best bet.

NEGOTIATIONS
Everyone owes money every month, even those who collect it for a living. We all have bills to pay, there's no exception to that. If you can sit down and take the time to talk with your landlord, your credit card companies, your insurance company, and discuss your current circumstances it could be a huge relief to your bank account. Be honest and ask if they can give you some kind of break or pause in your payments, a break or pause in accruing interest, and if you can negotiate your interest rates. According to Business Insider Apple, Chase, Citi, American Express, and Capital One offered their clients emergency support during the first few months of the pandemic.

THE DINNER MENU
Part of your monthly budget includes your grocery bill and funds set aside for going out to eat. As much as we all want to support our favorite local restaurants, eating out adds up just as quickly as it did before the pandemic. Tack on delivery fees to this bill, and it can be even more expensive. The dangers of panic purchasing delivered meals three times a day is very easy thanks to our favorite food apps. Meal planning is going to be just as important as budget planning. You'll need to stick to both to feed your family and save as much money as possible. We understand a few delivered and take out meals, but try and avoid them as much as possible.

THE (UN)ESSENTIALS
The pandemic has done a good job keeping us at home and helped us save money on group activities like going to concerts, going to the gym, and getting our hair and nails done. While things are getting back to normal and these services are slowly becoming available, that doesn't mean you need to jump back into using them again. It's best to wait and do so when your income is back to normal. You've survived without them up until now, and you can continue to do so a little while longer. If you have a lawn care service or a maid service that helps you care for your home, it might be beneficial to pause these services. As essential as they might be, they aren't as important as many other things in your budget. Making these decisions is difficult, but they are possible. You just have to keep going back to the drawing board when things get tough.

We know the last thing you want to hear right now is that you have to sacrifice more than you already have just to hang on. You've given up so much already, changed plans, and lost out on promised opportunities. The truth is, you can keep going. If you continue to make these hard decisions to save your finances and protect your family, the light at the end of the tunnel will become much brighter. If you are looking for the best accounting services in Goose Creek, the best tax preparation in Goose Creek, business consulting in Goose Creek, bookkeeping in Goose Creek, or payroll services in Goose Creek, we are here for you! Our phone lines and inboxes are waiting for you. Don't hesitate! Please stay safe, everyone. We will see you soon!