Get your receipts lined up. Rip open the W-2s. Sharpen those pencils and make sure you have plenty of erasers. It’s tax time, the season for crunching numbers and squeezing blood from a turnip. It’s a chore not many of us relish unless we expect a big return (and if you do, for shame, you’re giving the government an interest-free loan, but more about that at another time).

It’s not that we don’t receive breaks from Uncle Sam. Last year, nearly 46 million citizens itemized their taxes via the 1040 form and claimed nearly $1 trillion in deductions. Those using standard deductions claimed half a trillion dollars. Yet when you take us as individuals, who doesn’t want to pay as few taxes as possible, whether it involves getting a bigger return or owing less?

Here’s a fun idea for your Valentine’s Day, treat yourselves to a “money date”! Okay, this may not seem quite as exciting as a night on the town, but it does provide a great opportunity to step back and discuss big-picture financial issues you don’t ordinarily give much time and thought to.

Start with the fun things — what are your dreams and goals for the future? Before your date, each of you should make a list of your financial goals, and then compare them over dinner as points of discussion. This is your chance to look beyond your daily financial needs and think big. Would you like to start a business? Go back to school? Own a vacation home? Take time off to be with young children? Travel in retirement?

“A penny saved is a penny earned.”
Ben Franklin

That Ben Franklin, he was as good with the financial advice as he was with all the Founding Father business. No wonder his face wound up on our $100 bill. And yes, as Ben said, every penny you save may as well be a penny earned. But you have to save it to earn it!

Yes, saving money should always be an important part of your financial life. We’ve already touched on saving in a more generic sense when we talked about choices for a healthy financial New Year. Well, let’s explore a few more specific ways to save. This time we’ll look at ways to save money on things you do or use every day. There’s nothing tricky or difficult about any of these options. The only thing you’ll need is a good dose of “stick-to-it-ness.” Let’s get started...

… as the shoppers rush home with their treasures. Yes, it’s the most wonderful time of the year, the “giving season.” But while all the holiday cheer surrounds you, be sure collecting and passing out all those treasures doesn’t get out of hand and leave your budget like so much tattered wrapping paper under the tree.

A recent Consumer Reports poll of 1,000 Americans showed only 38 percent of consumers made a budget for holiday spending last year. Of those, 44 percent exceeded it; five percent said they went “way over” their budget. Even more disturbing, six percent of those surveyed (a nationwide translation of over 13 million shoppers) are still paying off holiday debts from last year! 

Ever chosen to take the plunge with an “introductory” or “trial” offer only to have a hard time canceling the service? Worse yet, ever signed up for a trial offer or subscription with your credit card only to keep having it charged even when you didn’t want the service anymore?

We’re not saying all trial offers are bad. Actually, they can be very useful. For example, trial offers usually allow access to a product or service for free or at a reduced cost. This gives you a chance to see how well you like the product. And obviously, the merchant hopes you like the product enough to make future purchases.

The last time you were at your parents’ home, you discovered unpaid bills. They had forgotten to pay their gas bill for the past two months. You called the gas company and explained the situation, and then wrote out a check for the amount due, so everything turned out all right. But what if you hadn’t noticed the unpaid bills, and it was the middle of winter? Your parents’ heating could have been shut off.

Well, it’s official. The credit card industry has been “sanitized” for the increased safety and benefit of U.S. consumers. The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act (otherwise known as the Credit CARD Act) of 2009 was signed by President Obama in May 2009, with most of the provisions taking effect in February 2010.

What does this slice of credit card reform mean to you? Let’s take a look at some of the changes that may affect you: