Money Management

[HeIsRisen2018]

Alright so yesterday I went out to the mall with a friend by myself and well the thing is, although I'm learning to be more independent, I really have trouble when it comes to money. You see the thing is when I was shopping yesterday I just expected the prices that I saw to be the exact prices that they were. I had no idea what tax meant since I wasn't taught about it in my special ED classes. It was really embarrassing too that I wound up paying a lot more for stuff in the end than I expected to. :blush Just from looking at me you wouldn't know I was disabled so they probably thought that I was an idiot. Not only that but I have absolutely no idea how to shop for clothes and what their signs mean. Does anybody have any advice on what I should do because my self esteem has finally sunk to rock bottom. (Btw, I'm not perfect with change yet but I have gotten a lot better with that. )

 

[Not_Now.Soon]

Because of taxes, when I look at prices I think of them in rounded up terms. $1.50 in my mind gets bumped up to $1.90 or $2.10. Things that are ove 10 dollars get bumped up more because the tax is more with a more expensive purchase. It's a rough estimate, and I'm still usually wrong about how much things will really cost, but it helps reduce the shock when I get to the register and helps me budget my spending before I get to the cashier.

As for clothes, hopefully one of the ladies can advise you on that. I have no idea about women's clothing. With men's clothes I know that my size is between two labels and that changes with the brands. So I usually look for clothes in both listed sizes and either try them on (if that's available) or just hope for the best.

 

[HeIsRisen2018]

Because of taxes, when I look at prices I think of them in rounded up terms. $1.50 in my mind gets bumped up to $1.90 or $2.10. Things that are ove 10 dollars get bumped up more because the tax is more with a more expensive purchase. It's a rough estimate, and I'm still usually wrong about how much things will really cost, but it helps reduce the shock when I get to the register and helps me budget my spending before I get to the cashier.

As for clothes, hopefully one of the ladies can advise you on that. I have no idea about women's clothing. With men's clothes I know that my size is between two labels and that changes with the brands. So I usually look for clothes in both listed sizes and either try them on (if that's available) or just hope for the best.

No offense or anything but this really didn't help me out at all.

 

[Not_Now.Soon]

Sorry. My only advise is to assume that things are more expensive then they show so that you're not shocked when you pay for it. Think things are more expensive then they would be with taxes and it'll help with budgeting you money while at the store.

 

[HeIsRisen2018]

Sorry. My only advise is to assume that things are more expensive then they show so that you're not shocked when you pay for it. Think things are more expensive then they would be with taxes and it'll help with budgeting you money while at the store.

Alright, thanks!

 

[Christ_empowered]

tax catches me by surprise, too. you're hardly the only one.

shopping online can be helpful, if that's an option. they'll either do the sales tax -before- you have to provide card info, etc. (so you can back out, change stuff in your cart, etc.), or...a lot of them, like Amazon, just don't bother (that's actually becoming a big problem...a lot of Amazon's success would never have happened if they'd been required to do sales tax like the merchants they destroyed.....).

so, there you go. some places it gets crazy...if you order a cup of coffee at a Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks drive thru, for instance, you could end up w/ 7% on top, plus some places expect a small tip.

just...try to budget, as best you can. take my hair cuts. i don't get my hair cut nearly as often as I could (on the plus side, I've gone from balding to sporting thick, luxurious locks...LOL....), but its like this...OK chain place does unisex charges for cuts, so that's 15. tax is...I dunno. I think its sales tax+a lil extra, cuz its a service. and then one must tip, because i go to this place for my cuts. so....I figure $20 bill gets the job done well enough, +1-2 extra if the person cutting my hair had awesome conversational skills.

so...there you go...shop online, round up a lot for stuff you have to do in-store, and try to tip generously with services.

 

[Michael74]

Taxes vary by region. Your favorite baseball team, the Indians, have to pay 8% sales tax when they shop. $100 in clothes plus $8 in sales tax.

Most people don't bother to calculate the exact tax themselves, they just wait for the clerk to tell them what it is. The computer in the cash register calculates it. $8 in tax for every $100 in clothes.

When shopping for clothes, you need to know what size you wear. Your mother can probably tell you what size.

 

[HeIsRisen2018]

Taxes vary by region. Your favorite baseball team, the Indians, have to pay 8% sales tax when they shop. $100 in clothes plus $8 in sales tax.

Most people don't bother to calculate the exact tax themselves, they just wait for the clerk to tell them what it is. The computer in the cash register calculates it. $8 in tax for every $100 in clothes.

When shopping for clothes, you need to know what size you wear. Your mother can probably tell you what size.

Oh I already know what size I wear it's the signs like twenty-five percent off that I don't get. 2

 

[Michael74]

Oh I already know what size I wear it's the signs like twenty-five percent off that I don't get. 2

The 25% off stuff is often a trick. Just look at the price, and compare it with what other stores charge. If its a better price than the other stores, its probably a good deal. If its the same price as other stores, its a fair deal.

 

[HeIsRisen2018]

The 25% off stuff is often a trick. Just look at the price, and compare it with what other stores charge. If its a better price than the other stores, its probably a good deal. If its the same price as other stores, its a fair deal.

Okay, thanks for the advice and sorry about the delay in the news btw, there's some stuff that I have to take care of right now and as soon as I'm done I promise that I will post it.

 

[Book Keeper]

We don't have this unfortunate situation in the United Kingdom. We have a national rate of tax; more commonly known as Value Added Tax (VAT). If you walked into a shop here, all the prices you see is what you pay; the price tag shows the cost of the item with VAT already added.

This is different for businesses; VAT registered companies can ignore the added VAT as they can claim the tax back - I'm not sure how this works or even exists in the United States.

Some goods and services are excluded of VAT; due to the number of exclusions, please click here to be directed to the United Kingdom government public portal for a list of exclusions.

I can imagine the difficulty in the United States as many states have their own tax rate. As someone who is terrible at calculating percentages, I feel your pain.

 

[WIP]

No offense or anything but this really didn't help me out at all.

Do you know what the sales tax rate is? For example, here in MN the sales tax rate is 6.875% or $.07 per dollar rounded out.

I don't know how you are with math but you can calculate it in your head rather quick if you use round numbers. For example, an item that is priced at about $1.00 will have about $.07 in tax so just add $.07 for every $1.00. For a $5.00 item, add $.07 x 5 or $.35. Do the same thing for larger amounts like $.70 for every $10.00 or $7.00 per every $100.00.

 

[WIP]

Oh I already know what size I wear it's the signs like twenty-five percent off that I don't get. 2

Here too if you are somewhat capable handling math you can get close rather easily.
25% off means that the actual price will be 25% lower than the marked price. 25% is the same as $25.00 for every $100.00 so if an item is priced at $100.00 then the actual price you will pay is 100 - 25 = $75.00 or $2.50 off for every $10.00 so you'll pay $7.50 for an item marked at $10.00.

If the sale is 30% off the price marked will be reduced by $30.00 for a $100.00 item or $3.00 for a $10.00 item. So, a $100.00 item will cost you 100 - 30 = $70.00 and a $10.00 item will cost you $7.00.

 

[Josef]

Hey All,
There is a quick and easy way to calculate the tax. Let me show you using my state (California) as an example.
California sales tax is 7.25%. Then cities are allowed to apply their own sales tax on tip of that. So the tax can bump up to over 10% in some cities. (Tangent time --They even added a "snack tax" so they can get money out of a little kid buying a candy bar or a soda pop. CA government should be ashamed of themselves. This is one of the reasons why people ar Lole leaving the state. What a nightmare!)
Back to the topic: this works for me, and will work for you as well if the tax is 10% or less. Whatever you buy, add 10% to the price.
So $1.00 = $1.10.
$20.00 = $22.00.
For odd pricing, $45.92 round up to $46.00 then add the 10% --$46.00 +$4.60 = $50.40. You can do this mentally.
You can also use the calculator on your phone. Enter the price. Multiply it by, one point plus your sales tax rate. Then touch the percent key. Mathematically, for California, it looks like this:
$45.92 x 1.1 %
For MN it would look like this:
$45.92 x 1.0725 %
You get the idea. I hope this helps. Keep walking everybody.
May God bless,
Taz

 

[Josef]

Hey All,
Correction time: Hopefully you can forgive the wording mistakes. But the equation examples should have an equal sign and not a percent sign. So it should read:
$45.92 x 1.1 =; or $45.92 x 1.0725 =.
Sorry for the mistakes.
By the way, this is how we should be when we talk to God. Admit our mistakes. Own them. Ask forgiveness. Make tangible amends where possible. Do these and watch what happens. It takes the sting out of the sin. (He got all spiritual doing math. What a Jesus nerd!)
Keep walking everybody. May God bless,
Taz