EATING WELL ON A BUDGET
Your Guide to Frugal Grocery Shopping
Are you tired of spending more money on fewer ingredients? You are not alone. While prices for most consumer goods have increased, food costs have increased even more. Grocery prices have increased by 25% since 2020, outpacing inflation by 6%. By buying food that costs less, lasts longer, and feeds more people, you can keep your grocery bills manageable while still eating well. Look for these foods at the grocery store to keep your wallet and pantry full! GROUND MEAT Whether it’s chicken, beef, turkey, or pork, ground meat is cheap and usable in many recipes. In addition to a range of options to meet dietary restrictions and preferences, ground meat is sold in larger quantities and costs less than many other forms of meat. Despite not being a “prime cut” option, ground meat is still full of protein that satisfies your hunger. PEANUT BUTTER While everyone loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, this inexpensive ingredient can also be used in a number of other recipes. It can be used as a delicious protein additive to smoothies or spread on celery to make ants on a log. TORTILLAS Tortillas come in two main varieties: corn and flour. The former is more traditional and less expensive, but if you prefer flour, it’s still an economical option. While you can buy pre-cooked tortillas, the flavor is much better when you cook them yourself. If you buy in bulk, you can save the tortillas you aren’t ready to use by freezing them, allowing you to save more and only use what you need. Tortillas are also used by astronauts as a substitute for bread since they don’t leave crumbs when you eat them. If they are good enough for astronauts, they’re good enough for us!
Toph’s Tax Turnaround
Some cases are noteworthy for their simplicity. This one illustrates some winning strategies for ordinary people dealing with the IRS. A WINNING STRATEGY FOR IRS SETTLEMENTS A self-employed taxpayer (we’ll call him Jack) came to me for help in 2019. Jack worked as an independent contractor installing cable and phone lines. Like many self-employed people, he hadn’t kept many business records. On top of that, he had just been through a messy divorce. Like many people in his situation, Jack just shut down and stopped filing his taxes. I put into play a strategy I believed would be helpful to Jack in the long term. I filed his overdue returns without claiming any deductions. This resulted in Jack’s reporting total taxes owed of $60,000, much more than he actually owed. That may seem like backward thinking. But if the IRS goes after a taxpayer like Jack for a sizable tax bill, the agency is more likely to negotiate a settlement. If you admit only to owing a smaller amount, however, the IRS is more likely to insist on collecting the entire balance on a time-payment plan. Also, I knew that Jack, who was in his early 60s and had already made a good-faith attempt to return to compliance, would be a relatively sympathetic tax evader, in the IRS’ view. Then came COVID-19. Jack wasn’t able to get much work and his cash flow dried up. Although the IRS basically shut down collection activity during the pandemic, Jack’s overdue tax bill wasn’t going away. Finally, in early 2023, Jack began working again and was able to start paying taxes for 2023 and beyond. I approached the IRS and offered $100 to settle his $60,000 back-tax bill. The result was a surprisingly quick response. The IRS offered to settle for just $5,768! While that’s a lot more than the $100 I offered, it’s far less than the $60,000 the agency wanted. Why did the IRS settle for so much less? Given Jack’s good-faith effort to return to compliance, his age, and his lack of many assets, the IRS was willing to cut him a good deal.
My client, needless to say, was excited and accepted the offer. Freed from the IRS’ shackles, Jack is glad to be back to work!
–Toph Sheldon
2 • 513-342-4000
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