Here's an idea...
With everyone going digital and more people are viewing via Computer/TV combos these days, why not create programs just for the Computer viewers?
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Budgeting 101
Cindy's Budgeting 101
for those who going from 2 incomes to 1
1) Separate need versus want. Shelter is a need, $300K house is a want. If 2 people have to work to pay for a house that they can't enjoy because they are working all the time and the kids are in daycare, perhaps they need to rethink priorities. If both choose to work because they're better at their profession than being a stay home parent, than so be it. But when I hear "I have to work to pay bills." it just screams, "I am a slave to my stuff."
2) Figure out who the saver is in the family and let that person take over family finances. If neither are savers, there are certified professional financial counselors to help them put a budget together.
3) Give yourself and your spouse an allowance and stick to it. When we first got married, we had an allowance of $50 per week. This was for those indulgences. Eating lunch out, manicure, pedicure, haircuts, music CD's (iTunes now) etc. We still follow this but it is so ingrained in us that we don't necessarily need to keep track. We mostly spend much less than $50/week. Make sure you set up allowances for each child when they arrive. Its too easy to impulively buy things for babies. They are so darn cute but really, they won't even know the difference. Give them a tupperware lid and let them stack lock n lock. They'll have fun for hours.
4) Pay yourself first. Put away at least $50/month for your own retirement. Especially important for the parent deciding to be a stay home parent. While the spouse has a retirement account via work and his social security benefit is active, the non-working spouse will lose out should anything happen.
5) Create various savings budget. Retirement, emergency fund, vacation fund, birthday fund, medical/dental fund, etc. and allocate a dollar amount to each. Be sure to remember birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, special holidays when we tend to spend a little more than average. Figure out how much you will need in each fund, divide it by 12 and put that money away right away with each paycheck. This is the "no touch" money. Better not go in these accounts for latte. : )
6) Create folders at home for receipts. At the end of each week consolidate receipts and keep track of where your money is going. MS money and others have a good program you can use. Some banks offer budgeting computer programs free of charge. If you are computer savvy, create your own budget spreadsheet. I did. If you're spending more in one account and less in another you can shift things around.
You'll need to keep a good budgeting pace for at least 6 months, preferably 1 year to get a solid budget together that everyone can live with.
7) Stick with your budget. Hold yourself accountable.
8) Couponing is a great way to spend your time. Couponmom.com is a great website for couponing. She does all the work for you. All you have to do is cut the coupons. And its all free. You can buy things you NEED on sale. But only buy what you NEED. A scarf is a scarf, you don't have to have designer scarves. The designer's name is a want, not a need. Like my husband says, "If you don't need it, it doesn't matter if it was 90% off, it's still junk. If you paid $10 because it was 90% off, you have a $10 piece of junk in your house!" I absolutely agree. (except when it comes to my shoes, but I use my $50 allowance money on my shoes so he leaves me alone.)
9) Budgeting is a team effort. One person brings in the income but the other needs to be careful on how that money is spent.
10) Budgeting takes creativity. You have to learn to be creative in meeting your needs without overspending. If there is a will, there is a way. We just have to make some priority shifts.
11) Bottom line, live within your means. Talk to your grandparents about saving. They are the best saving generation. Avoid keeping up with the Jones', they're broke too. If you owe more than you save now with 2 incomes, BIG RED FLAG, get help.
Good luck! Hope this helps.
for those who going from 2 incomes to 1
1) Separate need versus want. Shelter is a need, $300K house is a want. If 2 people have to work to pay for a house that they can't enjoy because they are working all the time and the kids are in daycare, perhaps they need to rethink priorities. If both choose to work because they're better at their profession than being a stay home parent, than so be it. But when I hear "I have to work to pay bills." it just screams, "I am a slave to my stuff."
2) Figure out who the saver is in the family and let that person take over family finances. If neither are savers, there are certified professional financial counselors to help them put a budget together.
3) Give yourself and your spouse an allowance and stick to it. When we first got married, we had an allowance of $50 per week. This was for those indulgences. Eating lunch out, manicure, pedicure, haircuts, music CD's (iTunes now) etc. We still follow this but it is so ingrained in us that we don't necessarily need to keep track. We mostly spend much less than $50/week. Make sure you set up allowances for each child when they arrive. Its too easy to impulively buy things for babies. They are so darn cute but really, they won't even know the difference. Give them a tupperware lid and let them stack lock n lock. They'll have fun for hours.
4) Pay yourself first. Put away at least $50/month for your own retirement. Especially important for the parent deciding to be a stay home parent. While the spouse has a retirement account via work and his social security benefit is active, the non-working spouse will lose out should anything happen.
5) Create various savings budget. Retirement, emergency fund, vacation fund, birthday fund, medical/dental fund, etc. and allocate a dollar amount to each. Be sure to remember birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, special holidays when we tend to spend a little more than average. Figure out how much you will need in each fund, divide it by 12 and put that money away right away with each paycheck. This is the "no touch" money. Better not go in these accounts for latte. : )
6) Create folders at home for receipts. At the end of each week consolidate receipts and keep track of where your money is going. MS money and others have a good program you can use. Some banks offer budgeting computer programs free of charge. If you are computer savvy, create your own budget spreadsheet. I did. If you're spending more in one account and less in another you can shift things around.
You'll need to keep a good budgeting pace for at least 6 months, preferably 1 year to get a solid budget together that everyone can live with.
7) Stick with your budget. Hold yourself accountable.
8) Couponing is a great way to spend your time. Couponmom.com is a great website for couponing. She does all the work for you. All you have to do is cut the coupons. And its all free. You can buy things you NEED on sale. But only buy what you NEED. A scarf is a scarf, you don't have to have designer scarves. The designer's name is a want, not a need. Like my husband says, "If you don't need it, it doesn't matter if it was 90% off, it's still junk. If you paid $10 because it was 90% off, you have a $10 piece of junk in your house!" I absolutely agree. (except when it comes to my shoes, but I use my $50 allowance money on my shoes so he leaves me alone.)
9) Budgeting is a team effort. One person brings in the income but the other needs to be careful on how that money is spent.
10) Budgeting takes creativity. You have to learn to be creative in meeting your needs without overspending. If there is a will, there is a way. We just have to make some priority shifts.
11) Bottom line, live within your means. Talk to your grandparents about saving. They are the best saving generation. Avoid keeping up with the Jones', they're broke too. If you owe more than you save now with 2 incomes, BIG RED FLAG, get help.
Good luck! Hope this helps.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
What are the challenges of being a single mom?
This is my first blog...and here we go. I thought I'd start this as a way to um, vent. Most of what I post are my opinions but occasionally I may do some research to back up my comments. Everyone has the right to their opinions right? Afterall, this is the USA, freedom of speech.
The first topic I chose is the challenges of being a single mom. You see I am a "temporary single mom". As a wife of a servicemember, we often spend time apart between deployments and long term TDYs or "business trips" that can last 2 weeks to serveral months. I am a mom of three, 2 boys and 1 girl. They are 9, 7, and 1. During a deployment cycle, I am left to care for my children, home and all our possesions all alone. Well not really alone, I have friends and family around the world that I can call or facebook for advise and moral/emotional support, but the day to day responsibilities fall mainly on my shoulders.
I am often asked by people who are not associated with the military or have not lived the "military life" this question: "How do you do it?" I've heard many stereotypes, from ALL military spouses are uneducated or undereducated. (Not true, I have a bachelor's degree and have taken many master's level courses and certification classes) to we are all undergoing some psychological therapy, (also not true, but I bet we can counsel many people just because we have been through so much that we can empathize). In fact, the veteran spouses are super resilient. We won't go into the details of that here (perhaps in a separate blog post). What I really want to talk about is "How do we do it?" How do all single moms get through each day?
This is my story...
I moved to Columbia, SC in 2009. I was 5 months pregnant and had two boys who were at the time 6 and 8. Shortly after we moved here, there were talks about my husbands deployment to Afghanistan. So here we are, adjusting to a new address, preparing for a new baby and now have to prepare for separation where Dad is going to war. How many stressful life events do we have to endure all at once? So, how did I get through it all? Denial and God's grace. God really has alot to do with it! Me and my children go through cylcles of mood swings (hormones and subtle changes with our bodies has a lot to do with this) and psychologically overcoming what "should" be.
So, what are my challenges?
1) Motivating myself everyday to do something.
2) Finding some purpose in life.
3) Relying solely on my own judgement and experiences to make a decision.
4) Accepting the consequences of my decisions, both good and bad.
5) Being a cheerleader, advocate, counsellor, advisor, leader, and the disciplinarian to my children.
6) Being the driver, cook, maid, housekeeper, accountant, maintenance girl, delivery girl, designer, teacher, motivator, coach, mother, daughter/in law, sister/in law, friend, all at the same time.
7) Feeling alone. I'm married but I don't get affections from by husband because he's not here and I too want so much to be held and loved by my man. That is why I married him and we started this family, for that affection.
8) Running errands and being pulled from 10 different directions. Wanting so much to have fun but knowing that there are consequences. If we spend a day away from the home, there is 1 day of housework that doen't get done. I soon figured out that I can have a catch up day. 1 day a week, I don't have to do anything. This is usually a day I don't invite any friends over because my house is in shambles. But its my guilt free day to do nothing. Than the following day, I tell myself to do "catch up" work. This is working well for me so far.
I have to do all these things all by myself...and often it is emotionally exhausting.
I have to remind myself to stay in the moment and think of the positives.
Here are the good things in my life.
1) My children are in a good school with good teachers and they get good grades.
2) We have a steady income (I don't have to work outside the home, thank God).
3) Supportive family, friends and neighbors.
4) We live in a very nice community.
5) We have a very nice new van.
6) We always have food on out table/pantry/refrigerator/freezer, etc.
7) We have God on our side.
8) My children are genuinely good kids. They make poor decisions sometimes, but deep down inside, they are really good kids and I am very proud each of them.
9) We have warm bed to sleep in and nice clothes on our backs.
10) We have choices...from what foods we eat to what we do for fun. Many people don't have this luxury.
Bottom line, sometimes it just sucks being a single mom. From going to bed alone (we have a king size bed and I don't want to sleep in that big old bed all alone) to wanting to take a nap but can't because I have a 1 year old baby who needs to be fed, changed, bathed, etc. But there are moments, these don't happen often but they do happen, when I look at my children and myself and realize, WOW, we've made it through all of this and we are all still standing. There is laughter in my house and I realize we can move on.
The first topic I chose is the challenges of being a single mom. You see I am a "temporary single mom". As a wife of a servicemember, we often spend time apart between deployments and long term TDYs or "business trips" that can last 2 weeks to serveral months. I am a mom of three, 2 boys and 1 girl. They are 9, 7, and 1. During a deployment cycle, I am left to care for my children, home and all our possesions all alone. Well not really alone, I have friends and family around the world that I can call or facebook for advise and moral/emotional support, but the day to day responsibilities fall mainly on my shoulders.
I am often asked by people who are not associated with the military or have not lived the "military life" this question: "How do you do it?" I've heard many stereotypes, from ALL military spouses are uneducated or undereducated. (Not true, I have a bachelor's degree and have taken many master's level courses and certification classes) to we are all undergoing some psychological therapy, (also not true, but I bet we can counsel many people just because we have been through so much that we can empathize). In fact, the veteran spouses are super resilient. We won't go into the details of that here (perhaps in a separate blog post). What I really want to talk about is "How do we do it?" How do all single moms get through each day?
This is my story...
I moved to Columbia, SC in 2009. I was 5 months pregnant and had two boys who were at the time 6 and 8. Shortly after we moved here, there were talks about my husbands deployment to Afghanistan. So here we are, adjusting to a new address, preparing for a new baby and now have to prepare for separation where Dad is going to war. How many stressful life events do we have to endure all at once? So, how did I get through it all? Denial and God's grace. God really has alot to do with it! Me and my children go through cylcles of mood swings (hormones and subtle changes with our bodies has a lot to do with this) and psychologically overcoming what "should" be.
So, what are my challenges?
1) Motivating myself everyday to do something.
2) Finding some purpose in life.
3) Relying solely on my own judgement and experiences to make a decision.
4) Accepting the consequences of my decisions, both good and bad.
5) Being a cheerleader, advocate, counsellor, advisor, leader, and the disciplinarian to my children.
6) Being the driver, cook, maid, housekeeper, accountant, maintenance girl, delivery girl, designer, teacher, motivator, coach, mother, daughter/in law, sister/in law, friend, all at the same time.
7) Feeling alone. I'm married but I don't get affections from by husband because he's not here and I too want so much to be held and loved by my man. That is why I married him and we started this family, for that affection.
8) Running errands and being pulled from 10 different directions. Wanting so much to have fun but knowing that there are consequences. If we spend a day away from the home, there is 1 day of housework that doen't get done. I soon figured out that I can have a catch up day. 1 day a week, I don't have to do anything. This is usually a day I don't invite any friends over because my house is in shambles. But its my guilt free day to do nothing. Than the following day, I tell myself to do "catch up" work. This is working well for me so far.
I have to do all these things all by myself...and often it is emotionally exhausting.
I have to remind myself to stay in the moment and think of the positives.
Here are the good things in my life.
1) My children are in a good school with good teachers and they get good grades.
2) We have a steady income (I don't have to work outside the home, thank God).
3) Supportive family, friends and neighbors.
4) We live in a very nice community.
5) We have a very nice new van.
6) We always have food on out table/pantry/refrigerator/freezer, etc.
7) We have God on our side.
8) My children are genuinely good kids. They make poor decisions sometimes, but deep down inside, they are really good kids and I am very proud each of them.
9) We have warm bed to sleep in and nice clothes on our backs.
10) We have choices...from what foods we eat to what we do for fun. Many people don't have this luxury.
Bottom line, sometimes it just sucks being a single mom. From going to bed alone (we have a king size bed and I don't want to sleep in that big old bed all alone) to wanting to take a nap but can't because I have a 1 year old baby who needs to be fed, changed, bathed, etc. But there are moments, these don't happen often but they do happen, when I look at my children and myself and realize, WOW, we've made it through all of this and we are all still standing. There is laughter in my house and I realize we can move on.
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