Tag Archives: saving

Earn Income, Guest Post

What You Should Do After Receiving a Raise

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Getting a raise is always a reason to celebrate, and seeing a larger paycheck as a direct result of your hard work is one of the best feelings. However, raises can lead to some unwise financial habits. It can be tempting to run out and buy that new big screen you’ve been eyeing, or funnel the money into a ticket for a family trip to Disneyworld, but take a moment to pause and think about how to use your new income in a way that will most benefit you and your family in the long run.

Reassess Your Budget

Any time you experience a change in income, whether for the worse or better, it’s important to look at your budget and adjust where necessary. When looking at your new income, it’s important to assess just how much the government will be taking out of that larger paycheck. Check out your credit history and take note of the places that you seem to spend the most, whether that be travel, entertainment, or dining. After looking at your budget, take a look at accounts that could use a little bolstering, then funnel your raise income difference into these areas. Another option is to invest your extra income in the stock market, this can be a good way to grow your asset pool and learn the financial system better. Through doing research into how companies are performing, as well as the general consensus on the amazon stock forecast (or other companies you’re interested in) you can predict trends and better invest your money where it will grow. The good thing about investing your money is you won’t be tempted to be wasteful with it, in the same way you might be if it was left sitting in your checking account.

Retirement Accounts

No matter where you are in your career, it’s important to have a retirement plan, whether you are in your mid-twenties or late forties. Thinking about the future is always essential when it comes to finances, and siphoning more money into your retirement plan will leave you with a larger retirement income and may mean you get to sign out of the professional world at a younger age than you ever imagined possible. Whether you’re putting more into your 401(k) at work or making deposits into an IRA, your future self will thank you for the forethought.

Charitable Donations

Sometimes, raises can affect our taxes, effectively seeing us owing more to the government when tax season rolls around. Charitable donations are a good way to spread the wealth while also being strategically sound with your finances. Donations to qualified charities can make you eligible for lucrative tax deductions when you file taxes online, and you’ll feel great about paying it forward.

Long Term Purchases

If you do have some need to buy items on your list, make sure your raise money goes towards those things which will benefit your family and finances in the long run. It might be an energy efficient washer and dryer, an update to your backyard living space that improves the value of your home, or investing in safe stocks that can make you a bit of interest each year. Speak with a financial advisor about what might be best for your family, and make sure you keep those impulse buys to a minimum, especially in the weeks directly following your raise.

Pay Off Debt

Have you been stuck in debt for a while? It’s time to get yourself out from under this financial strain. With your new income, it’s likely possible for you to become debt-free sooner than you originally thought possible. Take a look at your accounts and put them in order of interest rates, highest to lowest. Work on paying off the accounts with the highest interest first to avoid paying more over the long run than necessary. As your debt lessens, your credit score will improve, and the mental strain that’s alleviated will be more than welcome. If you owe the government, it’s essential to put all of your efforts into paying any back taxes owed under your name. The longer it takes you to pay back the IRS, the more dire the consequences. If it’s a serious amount of money owed, always be sure to use companies like www.communitytax.com to figure out what is going to help your case quickly and efficiently.

If you’ve received a raise for a job well done, it’s important to use that money in a smart, financially sound way that will best benefit your family. Keep these tips in mind and enjoy your new income to the fullest.

Life, Parenting

5 Turtles Free and Uncle P Turns 23

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Over the course of April, Avery and I have rescued 5 turtles from meeting their demise by something even their tough shells can’t withstand; cars. Texas has been fortunate enough to have lots and lots of rain so far, but this tends to bring more wildlife into the busy streets as they try to cross over to another safe-haven.

We’ve rescued both baby and fully grown terrapins and felt great knowing their life is at least prolonged just a little longer. Sadly, we also found many we couldn’t get to in time as they already met with their round rubber assassins.

My heart sinks a little each time I see one of those tiny turtles flat on the road. Unlike their bigger counterparts, they look like nothing more than a small stone to drivers. But, how about we focus on what we can control, like moving the living turtles off of the road.

I shared all but one turtle rescue on Instagram, but want to bring them all together in one post on my blog. But, before we go through each “saving”, I need to say something….

Happy 23rd Birthday Preston!

(aka Brother/Uncle P)

Yep, today, May 1st, is my little bro’s birthday. I don’t get to hang out with him that much, but need to have another night where we go enjoy a few craft beers. Avery also doesn’t get to see him as much as since the last picture we have is from Christmas.

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We’ve seen him more recently than that, but never took a picture. Look at how much Avery has changed in just a few months, yikes!!

Anyway, Preston, if you’re reading this (I’ll also call you since that would be the brotherly thing to do), lets find a time to meet up so I can buy you a round of beers for your birthday, mmmmmmkay?

What better way to commemorate Uncle P’s birthday than to go over the turtles we’ve rescued last month? After all, his gamer tag/name on Halo, which we used to play ALL the time, was Turtle. It only makes sense, right?

1. The first one was a baby water turtle (actually, all of these are water turtles) that we found on our afternoon walk (again, all of these were found on one of our daily walks). This guy stayed with us for about a week before I realized I had no idea why I was keeping it, so back to the wild next to a serene creek bed he went.

“Lyle Leo” was supposed to be “Little Leo”, for Ninja Turtles, but stupid auto-correct wins again! Maybe that’s why he paused before heading off to find his family.

2 & 3. Then we found a mommy or daddy turtle with its little one. They were next to the curb, but trying to get to the other side of the road. Abby stood guard as I helped them cross.

4. This was a quickie rescue mission for another baby turtle. I saw, I picked up, I carried to a nearby lake, I forgot to take a picture. Instead, here’s an old pic of our escapee pet box turtle, Tash, from a year ago. This is when we first introduced Avery to my favorite creatures and G-Ma was there to help.

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5. And the last one, saved just this past Wednesday, was the biggest turtle I’ve seen in our neighborhood to date! I had to put the mean snapper in a box and it literally weighed about 10 – 12 pounds!

I even caught video of the release. This is not the kind of turtle you want to pet. Avery walked right up to it and I had to grab her fast just as he snapped. Phew, close call!

Who knows what May will bring in terms of animal rescues? But one thing’s for sure, we’ll be there, walking and looking to help out whenever possible!

Do you encounter certain wildlife in your area often?

Do you or have you ever had to rescue an animal around your neighborhood or anywhere else?

Life, Parenting

Our Monthly Subscription to Background Noise

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Hi there and Happy Hump Day!

Does Wednesday make you happy or just mad it’s still not Friday? I will feel mad sometimes, but then optimism kicks in and I’m like “Hey, at least it’s not Monday!” So try to think of that. 🙂

The other day Going Mom and I were discussing finances and planning for Avery’s future by opening a 529 plan. We were going over our options and trying to decide what a good amount would be to make monthly contributions to ensure Avery has enough for college if and when she attends.

I say “if” just incase she becomes a superstar. She’s already our superstar, but we can’t pay her for it; sorry, Avery.

Going Mom has looked into the 529 plan more than I have and she calculated how much we’d need to start contributing now just so Avery had enough for just her first year! That’s going off the current cost of college, and something tells me it won’t go down in 18 years….

Then, discussing how much we could comfortably contribute, Kelley brought up a good point; we are paying monthly for something we only use as background noise at night! What is it? Satellite.

To begin with, we only have it for 2 channels; Food Network and HGTV. But on top of that, we don’t even watch the TV when it’s on! I guess this is better than what we were doing.

For the first few weeks after we brought Avery home, we’d sit in silence in our dark living room as Avery slept in her swinging chair. We would actually fall asleep in the living room too and really didn’t see our bed that often. We finally has success with getting Avery to sleep in her crib and the TV came back on.

Sleeping in our dark living room.
Sleeping in our dark living room.

But, the TV serves us better as a glowing light and background noise source. Watch the TV? Nah!

Kelley and I will have a short discussion every now and then, but we mostly just fall into a trance perusing the internet. Sadly, we might talk more to each other via Facebook than when we are sitting in the same room at night!

It’s not because we’re arguing (usually) or anything, we just both urn for some quiet time by the end of the day. I actually hate it if she goes off to bed because I always enjoy her company, even if we don’t say a word. Anyone else like that?

Hey, at least we’re “smart” and have the cheapest package you can get with DISH®, so give us a little credit. Plus, we do sometimes use the TV when G-ma is visiting since she likes to watch certain shows.

While we’re on the subject, another “pricey” thing we do is use Kelley’s iPad2 as a white noise machine. Yep, it just sits on a stand in the nursery and we turn on the white noise app at night and nap time. Why pay twenty dollars for a sound machine when you can use a $500 iPad? Don’t answer that.

Nobody’s perfect, right? For the most part we are pretty conservative and actually do really well with saving where we can. A huge savings is cooking your own food and not going out to eat. Since we don’t go out (ever), we are reaping the benefits of good health and saving cash.

Before I check out for the day, I wanted to make an update to our current nightly routine. I still prepare Going Mom’s meal so she can spend some time with Avery, and bath time goes on as usual, but Kelley is able to get Avery to sleep faster afterward. This means she is back out and sitting with me (as we don’t talk) in the living room while our light and sound box TV is on.

The part I’m starting to enjoy now that Avery is more active, is playing with her while Kelley has dinner. I’ll sit on the floor next to Kelley and do whatever keeps Avery happy. I do push my limits and Kelley has to call me out, but for the most part, it’s fun.

We found that Avery is ticklish just about everywhere..

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…and really enjoys being hung upside-down.

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And obviously, she enjoys eating her hand 24/7. But I actually get excited to play a little with her before bedtime, and it helps to get her to sleep faster too!

Do you have things you pay for on a monthly basis but don’t use?

Do you have a certain routine each night or do you just “wing it” every day?