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Personal Finance Guide
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10 Short Steps to Get Your Bills from the Mailbox to the Filing Cabinet Without Missing a Payment By Heidi Calhoun 1. Open your mail every day next to a trash can so you can immediately get rid of the mailing envelopes, junk mail, and any other garbage. 2. Tear your papers that you want to shred in half so that you don’t have to think about this when you are attacking your mail pile. You should shred any papers with personal information including credit card offers, investment information, etc. 3. Put your opened mail in the same spot every day. Use a container that is at least 8 1/2 x 11 to allow your papers to stack. 4. Visit your mail pile container every week. Pick one time that is convenient-make an appointment with yourself that you will keep! 5. Pull everything out of your mail pile container. Put your bills in order of due date. 6. Shred all of your mail that you have torn in half. 7. Write checks or schedule payments online for bills that you are ready to pay this week. 8. Place bills that you aren’t ready to pay yet back in your mail pile zone. 9. File your paid bills in the filing cabinet or bin. 10. Celebrate your accomplishment and repeat weekly. Heidi Calhoun, Financial Organizer, can be reached at 412-377-9018 or hlcalhoun@verizon.net.
Pa. Property Tax/Rent Rebate Deadline Extended to December 31
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State Rep. David Levdansky, D-Allegheny/Washington, announced that the deadline to apply for Pennsylvania’s Property Tax/Rent Rebate Program has been extended to Dec. 31. To be eligible for the program, residents must be 65 or older, a widow or widower 50 or older, or 18 or older with a permanent disability. Based on the property taxes or rent paid they paid in 2007, eligible Pennsylvanians can receive rebates of up to $650. To qualify, household income cannot exceed $35,000; the income limit is $15,000 for renters. However, applicants may exclude half of their Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, or federal railroad retirement benefits when determining eligibility, which allows some people with higher incomes to still qualify. This year qualifying seniors may receive an even larger rebate. Senior citizen homeowners who are eligible for the program and whose income is less than $30,000 will receive an additional 50 percent rebate if the property taxes they paid in 2007 were at least 15 percent of their income. Those seniors may qualify for a property tax rebate of up to $975. The state has begun mailing out rebate checks; any claims received now will be distributed as they are received and approved. Recipients also have the option of having their rebate deposited directly into their checking or savings account. Residents should call the Department of Revenue’s FACT and Information Line at 1888-PATAXES (1-888-728-2937) to check the status of a claim, though touch-tone telephone service is required. Callers will need their Social Security number and the amount of their rebate. People without touch-tone telephone service should call 1-888-222-9190 between 7:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. for assistance. For more information or for help applying to the program, constituents can call Levdansky’s constituent service offices in Elizabeth at 412-384-2258 or Finleyville at 724348-2030.