The header photo was taken 10-11-2016 from my deck located south of Fairplay, Colorado at an elevation of 10,000 ft. The photo is of Buffalo Peak showing the snow overnight and a rainbow.

“Big Box” stores start earlier every year putting out their Christmas stock items. This year I have seen Halloween items which are put out about Labor Day and then the stores begin putting out Christmas items right after that. On line shopping for Christmas has already begun the larger stores are advertising by attaching ads to emails. Amazon and eBay have included gift items in their lead screens for Christmas.

Why do I mention this early introduction to available gift items for Christmas? Because if a family sets a budget and makes a list of the wanted items for Christmas gifts now, they can watch for good deals over a longer period of time. In many cases the items are cheaper in October than they might be in December when the demand is high. Also for example extremely popular toy and game items have been known to sell out before the December Christmas shopping rush.

PREPARING A CHRISTMAS BUDGET- (1) Prepare a name list of the names of those you think you will gifting. Don’t put what you want to buy for them at this point. (2) After you have the name list, think of some of the items you may want to buy without necessarily assigning the gift to a person (3) Do some research on the internet, determine what sources appear to have the best prices for the items you have listed Most of the chain stores have a full compliment of products listed on the web. A person can either buy the products on line or in the store. Many times it is cheaper to order from the store’s on line ad and often you can pick the product up at Customer Service at the store. Amazon and eBay have many new items that may be cheaper than in the mall stores. Recently Amazon is trying to do away with UPS and FedEx as shippers and is doing their own shipping, it is not working well, I have had two items this week that never arrived and they refunded my money, they are not sure if it is the Post Office or their new shipping procedure.

After you are satisfied that you have done a lot of research and know what gifts you would like to give to each person on your Christmas gift list, enter the items by the names and the estimated cost. After you have entered this information for each person on the Christmas gift list. Determine the estimated total cost of the gifts. If it is within you budget , great, if not determine what gifts are causing the cost to exceed the budget. Then either change the gift item or God forbid , drop some people from the list.

Giving cash gift cards issued by various popular companies and restaurants- Determine how much you are having to pay for the card and when the card expires. Some gift cards expire and have an expiration date on the card. If they are not used the company keeps the money. Gift cards can be sent by email along with an electronic greeting card through Amazon. There is no additional charge for some restaurant gift cards.

LAYAWAY IS STILL AN OPTION If you are giving larger items that you do not want to store until Christmas, most stores will hold it for you until just before Christmas so you can bring that large gift home on Christmas Eve.

This Month’s Income Opportunity
Most people are probably not aware that magazines want full articles, short stores, jokes, and stories about actual personal or family experiences. If you sign up with Real Writing Jobs it provides the names of the magazines which includes the Saturday Evening Post and many other publications that want articles. It explains how to submit the articles and gives the addresses for submission. The articles can be submitted on line.
There are numerous job opportunities for editing , SEO optimization of existing dialog, data entry, proofreading, blog writing, and personal assistants all listed in the Real Writing Jobs lists.
Click on this link Real Writing Jobs The cost for this service has a one time fee of less than $40 after a 50% discount coupon on the site.

With a little more than a quarter left in 2016, it is time to compute your estimated projected 2016 family Income. A good place to start is to compare how much your income has been this year through eight months compared to last year. Has your family income increased 2016 over 2015. If so , was the corresponding withholding increased to compensate for the increased income?

I would suggest that you project your annual family income for 2016 and compare it to the gross income on your 2015 tax return. Look at the 2015 return and see if you obtained a refund or had to pay taxes. If you had a refund in 2015 and your income and withholding have not changed in 2016 , then you probably can sleep well and leave your withholding and paid tax estimates the same. If you had to pay taxes last year when you filed the family return and possibly even incurred interest and a penalty, ask yourself did I increase my 2016 withholding so there will not be a tax deficit in 2016? Or did your family pay additional estimates to make sure your family will not have a penalty in 2016. If your income has increased or decreased in 2016 , then estimate the effect the change will have on your tax liability for 2016 If you need to change the withholding make up the difference by getting a W-4 form from your Human Resources department and change the amount withheld for the months of October, November , and December. Most of the time if you do not owe taxes after adjusting your withholding so you get a refund , or owe a small amount, the IRS will not charge interest or a penalty.

A warning, even though you may have paid enough to so that you get a refund or owe a very small amount, the IRS Code explains that the taxes paid are supposed to match the period the income was earned. So, if you earned the income evenly throughout the year and made up the deficit in withholding for the year in the last quarter of the year, you technically could receive a bill from the IRS for penalty and interest. The tax laws change , but in past years if 90% of the taxes due have been paid by the end of the year there will be no interest or penalty assessed.

If ;your family is getting a large refund every year. Maybe you need to go to your Human Resources department and see if you need to increase your number of exemptions. If you increase the exemptions on a W-4 form within the legal limits so that the withholding is reduced, then you can use the money throughout the year and not let the government use your money.

INCOME OPPORTUNITY
Each month on my monthly post , I will outline an income opportunity. Also I will continue to supply links to income opportunities for families.

THIS NONTH’S INCOME OPPORTUNITY IS A USED BICYCLE BUSINESS:
Recently I decided to buy a used bicycle to ride at my son’s home when I visited them. I have purchased several bikes in Colorado and Arizona listed on Craigslist. There is a large number of bikes listed in Craigslist.
I saw an ad in the Colorado Springs Craigslist for a Specialized Expedition 21 Speed Bicycle 2013 model in good condition for $150 in like new condition. That bike cost $483 new. I called and agreed to meet the advertiser at a storage shed complex at his rented shed. The bike looks like new , I offered him $110 and we settled for $115. The bike looks like new , no wear showing , and rides great It has a special Swedish gear indicator. This fellow had several bikes in his shed and had another customer there. He explained to me that he was an engineer for a large corporation, but decided to start a part time bicycle business. He said I sell about ten bikes a a week with an average profit of $50 or about $500 profit each week. He explained that he looked at Craiglist for bargains and went to garage and estate sales that had bicycles, to get the bikes. He commented that so many people just want to get the bike out of their garage so are willing to negotiate.

I would suggest that you stick to quality lower priced bikes like Schwinn, lower priced Trek, Diamondback Wildwood, and Specialized Expedition bikes. Specialized makes high priced bikes made of titanium that cost several thousand dollars. Specialized makes a lower priced quality line of 21 speed bikes also. Diamondback bikes cost from $200 to $400 new depending on the model , some are hybrid meaning street and mountain, and mountain bikes.

BASED ON THIS INFORMATION IF YOU LIVE IN AN AREA WHERE THERE IS A CRAIGSLIST AND A LARGE SUPPLY OF BIKES THEN POTENTIALLY YOUR FAMILY COULD HAVE A GOOD FAMILY BUSINESS THAT ALL MEMBERS COULD PARTICIPATE IN AND MAKE SEVERAL HUNDRED DOLLARS A WEEK.

There is a site called Real Writing Jobs which offers a large number of writing job listings that are real offers, some full time job offerings, and a large amount of information about opportunities writing for magazines. Look at the opportunities for yourself by clicking on this link Real Writing Jobs

Most of the part time jobs listed are for writing blog information, proofreading, editing , key word optimization , blog writing for specified businesses, maintaining address files, etc. The person is an independent contractor. There are free tests to determine the person’s skill level in writing, bookkeeping, accounting, and more. Once a person is established it is much easier to get assignments on a regular basis.

This site has a “Get paid to write for Magazines” section. Taking the Saturday Evening Post as an example , they are seeking appropriate articles for publication, humorous stories, jokes, photos etc. There is a form that the submitter completes on line and sends to the publishers

There is also a section listing full time work at home assignments working as a personal assistant, call center person, and other bookkeeping type assignments.

Real Writing Jobs offers six different tutorials on ways to make money on line.

Click on this link Real Writing Jobs The cost for this service has a one time fee of less than $40 after a 50% discount coupon on the site.

I have had this service for two years and only had to pay for the service one time. I have taken the tests for English, writing, bookkeeping, and accounting. This information shows for prospective employers. There are several writing contractor companies that advertise for help on this site. Once you have done a few jobs for these companies you can have a webpage resume for prospective employers to see. Some jobs require the person bid on what they will do them for.