winter borrowing

[lawnworker]

Hello all. I am wondering how many of you out there have ever had to borrow money just to live off of in the winter. I hate to borrow money for bills but i have had to this winter. Also how do you all cope with the bordom of no work in the winter. The pressure of lower income and bordom is really tuff to take.

[walker-talker]

If you are that bored and hurting for money, why don't you just get a job (for the winter)?

MATT

[creative concepts]

Hey lawnworker,

Thankfully I have not had the problem with money (knock on wood). I agree with Matt to get a winter job if you are that hurting for money. The easiest way to have enough money for the winter, at least i think it is, is as follows.

1) figure out your monthly operating expenses (i.e ins. taxes, payroll, etc..)
2) estimate how many months the winter will be in your area ( look at data for the past 5 years to get a better idea)
3) save throughout the seasons for x months and add about 20% for a buffer.

I would also talk to your accountant about the tax laws in your area because you might wind up paying more taxes for saving this extra money.

As far as winter boredom,
1) I review the last seasons info and try to see where I can improve as well as cut the dead weight.
2) Get all your paper work in order and file it
3) Get out there and hussle your butt off for more work for the following year. Most commercial accounts start to look for bids the end of December/beginning of January

I would be intereted to here from others on this subject to see what they do as well.


Chris
Creative Concepts

[stslawncare]

its been tight but i havent had to yet, save a nice chunk of money during the season for winter, the one snow storm we had, and im actually doing a leaf job now, so im just fine.

[Scraper]

Scottie, Don't you live at home and go to school?

[carlriv]

Whenever I buy a new peice of equiptment I make payments so I am 4 months ahead. (as soon as possible) This way I have a buffer on all trucks and equipment. That wont pay the mortgage or put food on the table but It is nice to know I can skip 4 payments on everything I own. Doing this I also dont say "I have all this extra money in savings I need to buy ????" and end up in trouble that way. The money is already spent on what I intended.

[stslawncare]

yes i do live at home and go to school, not quite sure what ur point is though?

[Scraper]

No offense, but what bills might you have?

[tlcservices]

the point is ,comment about something one has a clue about ,not everyone is 13 or 15 ,some people have real bills and real taxes and are not that worried about what to do about a pimple.
the point is your in a real world and try to be adult about other peoples questions. We are trying to make a living for our kids.
the point being your a f33333kid

[GroundKprs]

If you are building your business, and are concerned about cash reserves or liquidity, and own your home, look into a home equity credit line. Mine house was paid off when I was in that situation, and I got a credit line, with a credit card or cash withdrawal access. That way you can draw at the beginning of the season if necessary, pay down thru the season, and draw again during the winter.

But have a definite plan to use this to build over a few years. Very poor to use it year after year. And there is usually a limited draw period of 5 to 7 years. Is neat to pay down to almost nothing by Oct - Nov, even though you know you need the cash later in winter. Good strategy planning can reduce your total interest outlay by significant percentage over your expansion time. Rates are good, too, because loan is secured by house. Here today I could get prime - 0.49% (I think, could be prime+0.49%, still a great rate) on this type of loan.

If you are in the business, already making a living at it, you must use your head and set aside the funds for the slow months. This is one of the main killers in the trade, not managing your 7-8-9 month income to live for 12 months.

[stslawncare]

no offense taking scraper i am sorta unlike other kids my age i actually have bills and dont mind it cause its building my credit and when i go to buy my first car and need a loan i have something to show, also allows me to start budgeting my money at a young age which i feel is important cause many people (older) dont know how to do that or are unable to causing them to struggle, something i dont want to do. to answer ur question yes i do have bills, i have my cell phone which i use very often (not constantly like most teens), i also offered to pay the cable bill for the family because i can have that in just my name and will come in handy later in life. i also have various expenses like food sometimes and when i go out to dinner, and other spendind money, not to forget business expenses and i always set money aside for equipment purchases repairs and emergancies.

[lee b]

Sorry Scottie, you're still not out in the real world. When you have a family depending on you, you'll see what we mean. The cable bill and the phone bill are probably about 10% {or less} of the monthly bills at my house, that's not including business expenses, so times your bills by 10 and see how much you've spent. That's reality.

[awm]

yea i borrowed money because i had more expences than anticipated. so i took advantage of a 7% interest offer.

[General Grounds]

:blob3: luckily have'nt had to worry about winter income, we have worked all year except for a few days off to let the wommping 4 inches of snow to melt. we do quite a bit of lot clearing for a local contractor who pays in 15 days, which is unheard of to begin w/. but we only work like a 6 1/2 hr day. it keeps money in my guys pocket and keeps them from borrowing from me. but i use the winter to get my paperwork in order and to goto pesticide classes to learrn and to keep license up to speed, also go to a few shows to see whats new this year. Tony

[stslawncare]

dont forget though ive only got abuot 10% of the amount of lawns u got, im just a smaller scale of u, like proportions in math class, im 1/2 and ur 8/16 equal but different sizes :-)

[RB]

I hope I'm not the onlyl one that borrowed $ to get by this winter. Today I did it - took money from a line of credit I have. Well this is going to be my 4th year in biz and it gets better every year. The first year as soon as my season was over I needed to get a job. Second year same thing. Third year I started plowing/salting and it got me by. I made a mistake in my 4th year by thinking that I could count on the snow to get by in the winter -- I was wrong. Well I still plow/salt, but here in Pgh. snow fall is few and far between - plowed once and salted maybe 4 or 5 times. Thankfully I do some year around work for a local shopping mall that pays about $1,500 month. That helps.

Well over this winter I put all my customers on contract so I'll have a fixed income and I'll be more able to budget and set some $ aside for winter.

Ron

[grassyfras]

stslawncare

Coming from another teen, I have to say I disagree with you. You don’t have real bills no offense even if you want to think so. You don’t need that cell phone you pay $30 a month for. You offered to pay for the cable bill and you don’t need cable no one asked you to pay for it. These bills are not all that expensive compared to others bills and you don’t have a family to support or save for retirement or even pay taxes like the rest of the guys pay. You are right you do have bills but you also have a business or a job whatever you want to call it. The bills come with your job; almost any kid can pay for a cell phone and even cable. I know a lot of guys that do that and barely ever work. Also, you will be able to buy a car if you need to if you have the money. Paying bills is no way to get credit. It just shows other big company’s that you spend a lot of money and your likely to go in debt that is their statistics. That’s just how they work. You don’t have to have credit to get a car and you can always have a legal guardian have the car in their name. All Scraper and the rest was saying is that you don’t know what it is really like to live in the real world even though you probably think you do. Maybe you do but I really don’t think so. You have NO risk of loosing your home or your family not having enough money. If your like me you probably cut grass more for a hobby then a job or just to have a little extra money. Everyone has to pay for their meals its just a living expense. So don’t take any offence to what anyone said its just not our place to comment on this (or at least how you wrote your reply). Save your money, don’t gloat it to others or they will try to take advantage of it. The people that act rich are usually not rich and the people that are cheap and seem poor usually are the actual rich ones. That is how they got rich in the first place, but I’m getting off track anyway.

[JimLewis]

Fortunately we have all year-round accounts. So we get a flat fee, 12 months out of the year. That's the nice part of living in a more temperate climate where it doesn't snow.

If I lived in a different climate I guess I would probably set it up like another guy did here on Lawnsite (can't remember who it is right now....). He figures out the total yearly expenses for lawn care and then divides the total by 12 and bills his clients in equal montly segments, every month of the year.

Either that, or I'd find some sort of business to get involved in that would work during the winter (e.g. interior painting, wood delivery, etc.)

[plow kid]

Originally posted by tlcservices
We are trying to make a living for our kids.
the point being your a f*****kid

Who died and made you LS queen? get off Scott's ass. He did nothing to you and you attack him. IMO any 15 yr old that tries to hash it out in this buisness and does good deserves credit, not a bashing and to be called a f****n Kid.

TLC services,

[lawnboy11]

yeah tlcservices hose bag, lay off.

[Lawnze]

Jim lewis spelled out MOTIVATION. That is key. Everyone has bad times but Keep Rollin!

[1MajorTom]

Ok, the insults stop now.
Let's get this thread back on the right track.

Lawnworker: To answer the original question, yes it can be hard to get thru the winter. But we have been fortunate to never have to borrow money. We pay all our major bills in advance, and then just set aside money for the utilities.
"Fun" money always runs a little low in January and February as I always seem to overbuy in December. But really it is all about budgeting.

And yes, boredom can really set in. Last year was really bad for both my husband and me. The winter really dragged by.
But this year surprisingly, it is going by fast. We keep busy every day and try to get out in the afternoon to get the sunlight.
Believe it or not, depression can set in when you become deprived of sunlight. Don't worry though, the season is right around the corner. :)

[plow kid]

Jodi, you are right about no fun $$. I collect scrap from the muffler shops in the evenings and make around $$75-$100 each load I take in, pretty good $$ for only 1-2 hours of work a day and most of that is drive time. NOW is the time to drive around and scope out places that you want to bid on.~NaTe

[David Haggerty]

You've posted my financial plan exactly.

My equity line account dropped to 4.24% APR!

But I'm getting better introductory offers from credit cards.
When the intro expires, it goes back into the equity account.

Back when I had payments, I'd pay them ahead.
Now there's just this "petty cash" account to deal with.

Dave