Welcome, Mrs. Accountability from OODA

A big welcome to Mrs. Accountability over at Out of Debt Again. This is Tightwad's second guest post swap and today it comes in a question and answer format; Mrs. Accountability asked me some questions, the answers to which are posted on her site, and Tightwad has OODA's answers to the same questions posted here. Cool idea, right?

Mrs. Accountability, do you do your income taxes early or at the last minute?
I would love to do our income taxes early, and I have been known to have them done by February in past years. Nowadays, since Mr. A owns two businesses and I have my own side hustles there is a lot more to include. The last two years we have filed extensions, and during that time I found more business expenses! One of the books I've read about being self-employed actually recommends filing an extension because it gives you the chance to make sure you've found all your business deductions. That did happen to me for our 2009 taxes. Mr. A opened his business accounts and business credit card in April 2009 but prior to that he had been using a personal credit card to buy materials for his business. It was very confusing to sort everything out. I am looking forward to an easier tax season for 2010 since I am using Quickbooks for Mr. A's business and I am trying to stay caught up each month.

What is the last big dollar ($1,000) item you bought?
Wow, I don't think I've bought anything over $1,000 in a very long time. I just looked through Quicken and find nothing over that amount since 2002.

Do you look at the Sunday sale ads?
We don't get the Sunday paper, so I do not. Twenty years ago I looked forward to perusing the Sunday ads, but I discovered it gave me a terrible case of the 'I wants and I gotta haves'. If I don't look at the ads and stay out of the stores, there is less temptation and I am less inclined to spend money on things I might not need. The downside to that is I miss out of sales for items that I do need. For example, if I need a new bra or my fan goes out. If I was looking at the ads regularly I'd know when those things are on sale. Mr. A watches the food ads so he takes advantage of those and buy most of our groceries at sale price.

If you're in a relationship - joint or separate accounts?
Our main personal account has both our names. But we each have accounts apart from each other. Mr. A has his own two business accounts, and I have a credit card account in my own name.

Favourite cheap date?
We don 't typically go on dates, but one of the things we like to do is going to thrift stores. It's fun to look around just to see what's there.

Did any blogger in particular inspire you to start blogging?
Mr. Debteater inspired me. Sadly, he is no longer blogging, but his blog is still up. All the blogs I was reading at the time were successfully paying down their debt or were no longer in debt. Mr. Debteater was going in the hole each month. At the time I felt like our finances were out of control and we weren't able to pay down our debt, and we even went into more debt since I started this blog. But when I saw he was actually going farther into debt each month I thought, "if he can have a blog, I can!." And I stared Out of Debt Again shortly after.

Do you have a dollar limit on gifts for family/friends? If yes, how much?
I know it's probably not a good idea but I don't buy a lot of gifts for friends and family and usually I allow myself to buy them whatever I want. Within reason. I guess when I think of it that way, I do have a limit because I wouldn't spend $100 of a friend or family member (well, maybe my mom) but I usually make handmade gifts. I guess when I really think about it, I try to stay around $50. Unless we're talking about family as in children. I do have a tendency to spend more than that on my children. I should curb that tendency, but so far I have not made it a priority.

Thank you Mrs. Accountability! Now go to Out of Debt Again and take a look around! If YOU are interested in doing a guest post with Tightwad, one of these cool question and answer swaps, or have another suggestion along those lines, please email me at tightwadblog@gmail.com.