It’s 2009 and there’s an economic depression coming fast our way. Thousands of Americans have lost their jobs and the forecasts look bleak for the near future. If you’ve been on the fence about financial situations, then now is the time to jump into the savings side. Americans can no longer wrestle with the credit monster and expect to win. This year, as Obama said, change needs to happen.

I’ve fallen victim myself to the easy credit lending of major credit cards. They entice you with introductory offers, and they make spending thousands of unearned dollars quite easy. If you’re like me, you probably realized those hard earned dollars were being spent on interest and fees rather than the principle balance. It was a vicious cycle.

To become unburdened by debt and begin saving money for future, we need to set realistic goals for the year, as well as create a budget. We’re going to be talking about these topics, as well as new ideas to help you scrimp and save for that budget. In addition to new content, we’re always open to suggestions and ideas. Feel free to visit our forums to ask anything related to finance and savings, as well as here in the comments. If you’re a new reader, we hope you’ll stick around to learn something and contribute. You also never know when we’ll do a cool contest.

In the meantime, there are quite a few books that could help you jumpstart your money saving ways. You could try The Millionaire Next Door, Your Money or Your Life, or The Net Worth Workout. Any of these titles could help you create wealth and live a better life. And isn’t that what we want?

Do any of you have good financial books to recommend?

2008 has come to a close, and with it our Gas Card Giveaway. For the past several months, we’ve been helping individuals gas up their cars with $25 of free gas. When we started, gas prices were looming around the $4 a gallon range. Now prices are under $2 a gallon for the first time in over five years. It’s a good time to be driving, but a bad time for the economy. We hope this last $25 gas card will help someone in this time.

Be sure to stick with us for future contests and great tips to save you money.

We had 214 total entries through either email subscriptions or blog posts about the contest. I just want to say thanks to all of you who blogged about the contest so many times. I hope you win! Now for the draw…The winner is…

147

The lucky winner has an email in the following pattern:

s _ _ s h _ _ . _ w _ _ t i e @ y a h o o . c o m

Congrats on your $25 gas card! Please contact me at jb@savemoney.com This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it to claim your prize.

Everyone stay tuned to the Save Money.com blog and our portal for upcoming activities and the always great content!

It may seem like a farce, but some purchases can save you money further down the line. Small business owners and others who will file a Schedule C during tax season can take advantage of the last hours of the year by purchasing items for the office. This time of year also makes for a good time to consider big ticket purchases for your business or home office, to create a write-off on 2008 tax returns.

Small business owners can write off:

• Equipment used for promotion and services. The write-off comes as a depreciation of value each year. The full amount of a equipment doesn’t come all at once.
• Any realized losses by the business throughout the past year.
• Those who use a home office can write off the cost of using part of the home as the office, this include electrical, water, and space usage costs. Space usage includes a portion of the mortgage and property taxes.
• Business meetings and subsequent meals can be deducted in part.

If you’re running a small business or part time business out of the home, then you should be keeping meticulous records of your expenditures. The money you spend on goods and services throughout the year on your small business can be deducted from your business’s profit margins. This would effectively reduce tax liability and save you money.

While it makes sense to save money and not to buy frivolously, many small businesses owners use this time of year to purchase equipment and other items to offset their realized profit on their 2008 returns. Will you take advantage?

The IRS wants everyone to consider whether they’re in business or just performing a hobby. The difference exists when you do the work for profit. If you’ve been doing side work throughout the year and made a profit then it may pay for you to file a Schedule C and deduct expenses related to the activity. If, however, the activity was simply for pleasure, then you may not have reasonable cause to consider losses related to the activity as a business would. Take a look at the IRS.gov site for more information on how to determine if you run a business or simply have a hobby.