Tag Archives: money

How to Become a Financially Savvy Parent

Being a parent is a full time job in itself, and can also bring about other expenses that you once never had to think about. As a parent, it’s important to develop financial savvy habits as soon as possible. That way when you’re raising your child and learning how to manage your money, tasks will become simpler overtime, and only involve minor tweaks to your budget here and there..

The following tips can help you and your family stay on the right path to being financially healthy and responsible:

Know Your Cost Of Living

An initial adjustment that you may need to make to ensure your handling your finances correctly, is gaining information about your cost of living. This includes the expenses for your needs, such as keeping a roof over your head, clothes on your back, food in the cupboards and the lights on. In an average household these costs usually add up to 50% of your monthly income. If you find that you are spending far over the 50% mark on housing and other basic expenses, it may be time to look at what you can do to help cut down costs.

Luckily, there are plenty of options to do so. This task can be as small as limiting your utility usage to save on bills, while others can be as extreme as downsizing your home. Whichever route you take should be determined by your lifestyle and financial situation. Once you have gotten your cost of living to be centralized to around 50% of your monthly income the next step is to know what to do with the remaining money.

Create Your Spending Strategy

A spending strategy keeps your finances organized and allows you to spend money on certain things for fun, while also saving for those “just in case” moments. As a parent, it is important to follow this initiative, so you can maintain a successful budget, while also splurging on entertainment and family fun for creating memories with your children.

One of the easiest ways to ensure that you don’t overspend on non-essential items each month is by taking the residual income that is left from covering your monthly living costs and dividing it in half. Half of this income can be spent on doing fun things with your family, while the other half should be allocated towards financial goals you want to follow.

Craft a Savings Plan

Developing a savings plan is just as vital as organizing your spending strategy. This is essential in making sure you are not over spending on living costs and non-essential purchases. Creating the perfect savings plan isn’t always a simple process, but if you plan accordingly and complete the groundwork that is associated with your budget, your family can have more success moving forward into determining how much you want to save throughout the year.

To start, finalize a list of family-related expenses with a financial goal that you want to accomplish and determine an average for how much money each of those will cost. After concluding the costs for those total amounts, take the remaining money from your spending strategy and allocate 20% of that toward your savings and the remaining 70% towards the other financial goals you have. These goals may be saving for your child’s future education, paying off debts or even just paying bills on time. Having a set saving plan for each spending category makes this step easier to complete, which is to open a separate savings account only for family costs and that don’t include your personal ones. In doing so, seek options that are easy to use, mobile compatible for on the go organization and that have no hidden fees associated with account maintenance or overdraft. This will allow you to build up your savings without the fear of losing money due to these unnecessary monthly fees.

Share Your Plans With Your Family

To make sure you’re in good financial health, ensure that your spouse and children are on the same page with your spending and saving strategies. Having the communication surrounding your financial situation will help make this process go smoothly. As this could be a tough conversation, never avoid financial discussions with your partner. This will give you a clear understanding of your financial goals and how they will equate to more success in the future. Coming to an agreement on money matters will make both parties feel equally involved with decision making, and strengthen your role as parents.

As your child becomes older, take time to start teaching your children about the importance of money management. Your kids may have purchases they want to make as well, such as toys and games, so discussing this with them will help them understand when they can and cannot have these things bought for them. While it may be frustrating for them to be told no at first, it teaches great finance skills and also allows them to start learning to save for things on their own.

Being a parent can be stressful, especially when it comes down to your family finances. Becoming financially savvy as a parent will not only help you in the short term but can also help instill good financial habits in your children in the long run.

Taking Care of Your Family’s Finances When Times Are Rough

finances, healthy, family, tips, advice, parenting

Photo Source

You can be the most financially organised individual, but sometimes incidents will occur in your life that knock your finances out of check. Perhaps you experience an illness or injury that means you have to take extended periods of time off work. Maybe you are made redundant, or lose your job due to other circumstances. Maybe you just experience an unexpected change in your income. Whatever the reason behind significant changes in your finances, it is important that you deal with them effectively, no matter how rough your circumstances may be. This will help you to avoid sinking into debt or compromising your family’s quality of life. Here are a few steps that you can take to keep things running as you want them to, even in times of difficulty or hardship!

Seek Legal Advice

If you are experiencing difficulties through no fault of your own, you may want to seek legal advice. Perhaps you have had to take time off work because you experienced an injury at the hands of another. Maybe your employer has unfairly dismissed you. Maybe someone has used your finances fraudulently. Whatever the problem, professional lawyers such as those at https://derricklawfirm.com/ will be able to survey your case and determine whether you can claim compensation from those who are at fault. This money could help to cover medical expenses, loss of earnings, and various other factors that could see you otherwise sink into debt.

Budget

Every family should live by a budget. A budget allows you to determine how much money you have coming in, how much has to go out on bills and necessities, and how much you have left to play with. If at any time you find that your earnings have been reduced, then you need to make sure that you create a new budget that ties in with your new income. If you try to live by a budget that is beyond your means, you can quickly find yourself having to borrow, and you can quickly sink into debt. In order to create an effective budget, make sure that you know your exact take-home-pay. Many people make the mistake of simply assuming that their salary on paper is what they have earned and can use. But you need to remember to take off taxes and other necessary legal payments. Once you have deducted these from your overall salary, you have your take-home-pay. Next, deduct your essential bills, these can include energy bills, finance agreements, and groceries. The amount that you have left after essentials is your disposable income and this is what you have to play with. As long as your spending never exceeds your disposable income, you should stay in the black.

Gather Savings

If you do have disposable income, it’s a good idea to contribute a portion of this to a savings account for the future. You never know when hard times might hit, and it’s a good idea to prepare just in case. By depositing funds in a savings account, you give yourself something to fall back on in times of difficulty.

These are just a few ideas that could help you to support your family financially, even during hard times. So, keep them in the back of your mind at all times!

Hurry, there’s Still Time to Buy Crap for People before Christmas!

Is your e-mail inbox still being constantly bombarded by ads claiming “there’s still time but you have to hurry and order NOW!”?

I enjoy giving and getting “crap” every year, but not to the point where I’m having digestive issues from the severe stress of not having bought a super popular Elsa from “Frozen” doll like everyone else is getting this year. Okay, so Avery has no clue about cartoons or movies yet, but hopefully you get my drift.

If you’ve so much as thought about shopping at an online site, it probably seems like your brainwaves fed into your computer’s internet cookies and businesses are using your e-mail address to solicit potential business before it’s too late and you’re totally screwed and all of Christmas is ruined! Or something to that effect. 🙂

The above ad is one of the numerous e-mails littering my inbox with desperate attempts to catch those who procrastinated and are desperate to purchase gifts for others. I think this, along with all of the countless pleas by companies to win your last minute shopping business is PATHETIC!

True, I buy things for friends and family every Christmas, but I simply cannot stand the constant marketing claiming they have what you need to make this Christmas special as they twist your arm into feeling guilty for maybe not having bought enough or nothing at all for that 2nd cousin.

What if, now hear me out here, we quit worrying so much about getting things (read, crap) for others and maybe just give them some of your time? Yeah, like sit and talk, have a meal or just a drink with them and enjoy the moment. In the grand scheme of things, that time you spend together will last a lifetime. The item you rushed to buy? Probably not as long.

Make no mistake, I’m not claiming to be perfect or saying I’ve always done this myself, but I plan on doing it now. Like I said, I’ll buy things that have meaning, make it if/when I can, but also focus more on time as a wonderful gift. Unless you have very materialistic friends and relatives, they might appreciate it more than anything you can buy.

If you must buy something, buy a gift card to a nice coffee shop or restaurant and specify that it’s to use for you and that person or a group of people together.

You get it; focus less on the stressful rush to buy crap, and more on time with those you care about. As a super-major-gigantic plus, spending time instead of money is affordable for anyone. That is, unless, you have little ones that just started walking. Then you might have less time… 🙂

Umm, did you want in the fridge or something?
Umm, did you want in the fridge or something?

Yeah, every day is something new that requires Going Mom and I to figure out a solution. But it’s so worth it and I love seeing Avery walking around everywhere and discovering new abilities. Well, maybe not the outlet plug covers and never mind the fact that she’s constantly running into my legs and appearing out of no where behind me. They’re a lot quieter when on their feet as opposed to their hands and knees making a constant pitter-patter to announce they are coming!

So, this Christmas (and all other holidays/birthdays/special occasions), spend a little quality time with those you care about and don’t worry so much if you didn’t buy some material item.

Please, don’t let these stupid commercials claiming they have the deals to make this a “special Christmas” get to you. A REAL special Christmas is being together and enjoying time.

Have I mentioned to focus on quality time with loved ones? 🙂

Do you fall victim to the last-minute ads/shopping?

Have you tried just offering your time instead of purchased gifts?