From the category archives:
I loved Michelle’s guest post today over on Attention Target Shoppers on her journey towards becoming more frugal. If you’re new to frugality and wondering how to get started, her thoughts and ideas will be a great help to you.
photo credit: winterofdiscontent
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
I don’t watch TV. Ever.
Except for something historically monumental–like the presidential elections–or, when the Olympics are on. I find the Olympics to be incredibly inspiring and interesting, unlike 99.9% of the rest of what airs on television.
As I’ve been watching the Olympics these past few days, I can’t help but notice so many financial lessons which can be gleaned from the success of these highly-trained and experienced athletes. The principles which they’ve applied to achieve athletic success can be equally as helpful when it comes to finances:
None of the Olympic athletes woke up one day last month and decided they’d compete in the Olympics. No, they’ve spent days, weeks, months, years, and even decades preparing, planning, and practicing.
I read the autobiography of Michael Phelps last year and found it fascinating that he and his coach had set exact goal times–down to the hundredth of a second–that they were aiming for him to hit in each of his Olympic races in 2008. They practiced for these times over and over and over again, and they were forefront in Phelp’s mind at the Olympic games. I have no doubt that having a clearly mapped out strategy is one prominent reason Michael Phelps brought home eight gold medals from Beijing.
If you want to be financially successful, it’s not enough to say, “I’m going to get out of debt.” Or, “I want to save to pay cash for a car.” No, you have to have a clear-cut game plan. You have to have goals and then break those down into attainable, bite-size objectives.
Olympic athletes make phenomenal sacrifices. While the rest of us are sleeping, or vegging, or shopping, or eating, they are in the gym training. They don’t live a normal life or participate in many of the social activities that most in our culture do because so much of their focus and energy must be devoted to physical training.
If you want to succeed financially, it’s also going to require sacrifice. You’ll likely have to give up some of the societal “norms” if you’re working your way out of debt or living on a beans-and-rice budget in order to save for a big purchase or stay out of debt. You might be driving an old car, wearing thrift store clothes, and clipping lots of coupons. Your friends might not understand or think you’re weird. That’s okay. In the long run, those sacrifices and your counter-cultural living will pay off with big dividends.
No athlete ever makes it to the Olympics without exerting enormous self-discipline–probably more than most of us can fathom! They push themselves through pain, injury, exhaustion, and excruciating fatigue.
They don’t give up when the going gets tough. Winners aren’t quitters.
I believe self-discipline is one of the greatest keys to financial success, as well. If you’re not willing to stick with a budget, to say “no” to what you can’t afford, and to stop living beyond your means, you’re never going to get ahead.
If you keep going, keep plodding along, keep sticking with your budget, keep pressing forward when it seems like you’re not getting any traction, you will reap the fruit of your efforts.
An Olympic medal is probably not a reality for most of us, but implementing the principles of Olympic athletes in our personal and financial lives can result in amazing success–which will hopefully be much more long-lasting than a one-time Olympic victory.
photo credit: Shazz Mack
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Guest Post by Toni from The Happy Housewife
A little over two years ago we called the Dave Ramsey Show and screamed, “We’re DEBT FREE!” at the top of our lungs. It was a life changing event and a moment I will never forget. Since then, we’ve committed to live debt-free. Doing so has meant we’ve had to change our thinking about many things.
For instance, I always thought it was acceptable to have one car payment in order to have a safe and reliable vehicle. When we decided not to borrow money anymore we had to figure out a way to drive vehicles without a payment. We had purchased cars with cash in the past, but typically they were beaters that my husband drove to and from work. We wanted our next car purchase to be a late model vehicle that we could drive for at least ten years.
Is it possible to save up and pay cash for a quality vehicle in this day and age? Well, here’s how our family did it:
When we wrote up our first debt-free budget, we included a “car payment” category. But instead of paying the bank, we paid ourselves.
We did some calculations and decided we would need to replace one of our vehicles in two to three years. Based on the vehicle we would need and the time we had, we decided to put $300 a month towards our car payment. Each month that money grew in a high interest money market account while we continued to drive around in our paid-for vehicles.
Considering the average American car payment is almost $400 a month, we were still saving money by not having a loan on our vehicle. We figured that after three years, we would have saved over $11,000 and felt we could replace one of our vehicles with that amount if we added in the amount from the sale of our current vehicle.
Our plan seemed great, but then I ended up getting pregnant with our seventh child and our eight-passenger suburban wasn’t going to work anymore. Suddenly, there was much less time to save and more of a car to purchase.
We had about $8000 in our car fund at the time and realized we needed about $15,000 for a van. So we decided that for a short period of time we would stop funding other savings accounts and aggressively work towards saving for a van.
We were planning on selling one of our vehicles anyway, so we estimated the selling price, subtracted that amount and the $8,000 from the $15,000 and realized we needed to save about $5,000 in eight months. That amount came to about $625 a month.
While that seems like a lot of money, it was really only $325 a month because we were already saving $300 a month in our car fund. We stopped saving in other areas in order to meet our vehicle savings goal.
During the time we were saving for a vehicle, I spent about fifteen minutes a week checking the Auto Trader, Craig’s List, Ebay, classifieds, and car dealerships websites looking for vans. I checked safety records, resale value, and owner reviews. I wanted to know what was available and the average prices.
After several months of research, I’d learned that white vans were the cheapest, sliding side doors were hard to come by, and Fords were usually less expensive than Chevys.
When we reached our savings goal, I actively began searching websites for a van that met our criteria. After four weeks of searching, I found a van that had all of our needs and preferences and it was still under warranty.
We purchased our van almost one year ago. While it was hard to part with so much money at the dealership, I don’t ever stress about not being able to make a car payment. Paid-for vehicles are fun to drive!
Toni is an author, homeschooling mother of seven children, and military spouse. Her blog, The Happy Housewife, inspires and educates on frugality, budgeting and how to thrive on one income in a two-income world.
Photo Credit: Emilio Labrador
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Recently, I’ve been sharing our story of how we met last year’s financial goal of saving up to pay cash for our first home. While that goal might be unrealistic for you, I highly recommend that you make it a practice to set financial goals each year–even if they are seemingly “small” goals. We’ve been doing this for the past three years and have been completely amazed at what a difference this simple act has made in our lives.
Here are three reasons I believe everyone should set financial goals:
“If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.” If you don’t have financial goals, there is little reason for being frugal, clipping coupons, or sticking with a budget. Goals, on the other hand, give meaning to your efforts.
When you have a purpose for why you are forgoing eating out or shopping at thrift stores or driving an old car, it’s much easier to stick with it for the long haul.
We write our financial goals down at the beginning of the year and then review them throughout the year to track our progress. The exercise of discussing and writing down our goals forces us to be accountable–to one another and to the goal sheet. It’s a lot harder to go blow a sizable amount of money on a needless purchase when you know you’ll have to face that goal sheet hanging on your refrigerator.
Tracking the progress of our yearly goals on a monthly basis is a huge motivation for staying on track. We’ve found that it’s helpful (and fun!) to break down our yearly goals into monthly bite-size chunks and then challenge ourselves to see if we can exceed those.
Sometimes, it can feel like you are spinning your wheels and getting nowhere. Just as soon as you save up enough money to replace the broken washing machine, the car breaks down. However, we’ve found that even if we’ve had a month with lots of financial setbacks, the goal sheet serves as an encouragement to us that we are making progress and going something–even if it’s at a slower pace than we’d hoped. And that always inspires us to keep at it!
Do you set yearly financial goals? If not, what are you waiting for? Mandi over at Organizing Your Way has some excellent input here to help you get started on your financial goal-setting journey.
photo credit: hpk
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
In Part 1 of our story, I shared about our lean law school days and how my husband had found this guy named Dave Ramsey who he was all excited about. I was less-than-enthused. I mean, c’mon, we were debt-free, we were living on a budget, we were living beneath our means, and we were giving–even on a very small budget. What more could some guy on the radio really teach us about money?
I drug my feet. I made up excuses. But Jesse persisted in encouraging me to listen to Dave Ramsey. So I finally gave in and said I’d go through Financial Peace University with him. I figured it wouldn’t hurt anything. And maybe, I’d learn something new.
Boy, was I ever stubborn and proud.
After the first week of Financial Peace University, I understood why Jesse was excited about this guy! Dave really knew his stuff, he thought a lot like us, and he was a great communicator. And believe it or not, I was getting a little hooked.
As we went through the next 13 weeks of classes, I learned all sorts of stuff I realized I had no clue about when it came to finances. Things like the various pros and cons of different kinds of insurance, what exactly mutual funds are, and how to wisely prepare for retirement.
But more than the typical financial terminology, I had a complete paradigm shift when it came to money.
I’d always thought it was great to live beneath your means and it was good to give generously, but I’d never really thought extremely long-term concerning money. Nor, had I ever had a strong reason for practicing frugality other than that we had to—or else get ourselves buried beneath loads of debt.
Dave Ramsey gave us a vision. He inspired us to think big, plan ahead, and dream big dreams. Most of all, we were motivated to get our family in the best financial shape possible so that we could bless and help others by being generous givers.
When we were finished with Financial Peace University, we sat down and made some big goals. In fact, the goals were so big, they seemed impossible to us at the time. But we decided to aim for the stars. After all, we figured that even if we didn’t hit them, we’d likely make more traction than if we hadn’t aimed at all!
One of the seemingly-impossible goals we made at that time was to buy a house debt-free within five years of finishing law school. It felt so far-fetched that we didn’t even have the courage to tell anyone else about it. However, we thought that if we really scrimped and saved, we might be able to squeeze out enough extra from our budget to buy a small, very basic fixer-upper home at an incredible deal within five years.
After law school, Jesse got a good job–no six-figure income, by any means!–but it was more than enough to pay our bills, so we were elated! It was also around this time that my earnings from various work-at-home jobs started to increase substantially, as well.
I’ll be honest and tell you that there was a very real temptation to want to significantly increase our standard of living when our income went up. Hadn’t we lived on beans and rice for long enough? Hadn’t we spent enough time wearing secondhand clothes and driving old cars?
Instead, thanks to Dave’s encouragement, we decided to think long-term. Sure, we could easily blow the extra money which was coming in on nicer cars, expensive clothes, lots of restaurant meals, or extravagant purchases. But what would be the point of that?
We’d stopped worrying about impressing people a long time ago, we’d learned that money and things don’t buy happiness, and I really liked getting good deals at the grocery store and elsewhere and couldn’t bear the thought of paying full price for things.
In addition, we also considered the possibility that our income could go down significantly or we could have some major medical crisis. Wouldn’t we rather do all we could now to put ourselves in the best position financially while we had the opportunity?
So instead of going out and buying a house or even increasing our standard of living by much at all, we opted to continue our beans-and-rice budget and sock away as much of our income as we could into savings.
As our savings continued to build, we started to realize maybe our “crazy idea” of saving to pay 100% down for our first home wasn’t so crazy after all. Maybe, just maybe, if we kept living frugally, we could actually pull this off.
But then, unexpectedly, my husband was laid off from his job. All of a sudden, our dreams and plans and goals came to a screeching halt.
…To be continued
photo credit: thinkpanama
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
A few weeks ago, my rambunctious two-year-old accidentally knocked and broke a very special tea cup of mine. As I was sweeping the pieces of glass into a dustpan, I realized this was something one could easily find themselves upset over.
But instead of frustration, I found myself feeling grateful. Our lean law school years–when a hot cup of tea in my special tea cup was one of life's few luxuries–had taught me a profound lesson: things don't buy happiness.
It's a trite phrase, to be sure, but when you've found much happiness in spite of the lack of things and the lack of money to buy things, it seems anything but cliche.
There are likely many reading this right now who are experiencing financial difficulty. Maybe your husband is unemployed and there are no job possibilities on the horizon despite your incessant knocking on doors. Perhaps you have no idea how you are going to pay your rent or your mortgage and you're beyond tired of eating endless varieties of beans and rice.
No matter your current financial struggles, you can have happiness. In fact, you can find the very same kind of happiness I had when we were living on $800 a month in a little basement apartment in a new town with few friends.
You've likely read here about a lot of deals I've scored over the past few years, but today I want to tell you about the best "deal" I've ever gotten–one which changed my life forever and gave me lasting happiness and peace.
Two thousand years ago, in a humble manger in Bethlehem, a little baby was born. This baby, Jesus, would grow up to be the Savior of the world.
When I was 11 years old, I committed my life to Jesus and He become my personal Lord and Savior. Since then, my world has been turned upside down.
Where once I lived in constant fear and worry, I now have lasting peace. Where once I had emptiness, I now have true fulfillment.
Is my life perfect? Far from it! But I am loved unconditionally by the Creator of the universe. And that, my friends, is worth more than all the money in the world. He is what brings me true happiness.
As I swept up those pieces of shattered glass, I realized I wasn't upset over my favorite tea cup breaking because I have something which pales in comparison to a thousand expensive tea cups–I have Jesus.
The things of this world will fade, crack, break, and die. Jesus is Eternal. He will never leave me or forsake me. And someday, I get to spend Eternity with Him!
This Christmas, my prayer is that you also know Jesus, too. If not, don't delay another day until you get to know Him and commit your life to Him. (Go here to read more about Jesus and how He can change your world, too.)
I promise, this will be the best deal you'll ever find–worth more than all the money in the world can buy!
Merry CHRISTmas!
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Guest Post by Jessica from Utah Deal Diva
Like millions of other Americans, I hadn’t anticipated my husband suddenly being out of work. We’d always lived within our means and had little debt, but we didn’t have much in savings either.
How were we going to pay our bills? Would we lose our house?
Those were the thoughts running through my head as the reality of our situation began to sink in. I am a stay at home mom for our three young children; my husband was the sole breadwinner and then suddenly he was without a job.
How were we going to make it with no income? I was overwhelmed with our sudden change of circumstances.
Thankfully, my husband and I quickly resolved that we would not let this situation break us. We had worked too hard to let this ailing economy make victims out of us. We made a plan and prayed hard that God would help us. Little did we know how abundantly our prayers would be answered.
Here are some lessons we learned while my husband was unemployed:
1. Being unemployed is hard work. My husband and I are both hard workers, but never before have we worked so hard to stay right where we were at. Our only goal at the time was to pay our bills and stay in our home.
Within two days of being out of work my husband secured a part-time job working retail. When he wasn’t working there, he was spending hours and hours every day searching for a new job. I helped him search before the kids woke up and after they went down for naps. We worked with recruiting firms and friends to find new employment. In one word I would describe it all as exhausting.
2. The companies you pay your bills to are more willing to help if you ask. Within a week of being unemployed, I called all of the companies our bills were through, telling them our situation and asking what they could do. I was so grateful to find that every company I called was more than willing to help us. We switched phone plans, downgraded our cable, and canceled services. Suddenly our meager income was stretching a lot farther.
3. I didn’t miss luxuries nearly as much as I thought I would. Right after my husband lost his job, we declared a spending halt. We bought nothing unless it was absolutely necessary, and even then, we most often bought second-hand.
We re-discovered the value of family time and truly enjoyed spending it together. We made meals from scratch and had a new-found appreciation for the items we already had. Our lives became very simple and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it.
4. Meal planning and cooking from scratch saves a lot of money. This is something I’d known for a while, but I learned anew just how true it was while unemployed.
We had built up a nice food storage thanks to using coupons so I regularly assessed the items in our pantry and planned meals accordingly. We made our own bread and found joy in creating yummy treats ourselves.
I also got very creative in seeing how far some food items could stretch. A member of our church dropped off a whole ham one night and I stayed up late slicing and packaging it so as to use the entire thing. I even boiled the ham bone in soup! We were able to feed our family over 7 meals with that one ham!
5. Using less of everything really didn’t affect our way of life. And when I say everything, I mean everything! One of the areas we made a real effort to use less of was gas and electricity. We wore sweatshirts instead of adjusting the heater and used the warmth of the oven to heat the house after we baked something.
We were mindful of even the little things from the length of showers we took to how much shampoo we used. We turned our water heater down and adjusted our dishwasher to the lowest settings. As a result of changing our actions, we didn’t freeze, our clothes and dishes were still clean (as were we!), and we ended up shaving 25% off our utility bills!
6. We didn’t really need many of the items we already had. I regularly walked around the house assessing what our family could live without and I sold the items online. I sold books, clothes, and electronics. Anything we didn’t need that I thought might have value was suddenly on the market!
My husband scoured the garage and cashed in a load of scrap metal. I’d been couponing for years and had quite a supply, so I assembled coupons and sold them in groups. We spent $20 to cosmetically fix up an old car we’d had for years and hung the “For Sale” sign on it, unsure if we could even sell it in this economy. We sold it for our full asking price a month later.
Each time I sold something I’d calculate what bills that item could pay for or how long it would enable us to live in our house. Tens of dollars turned to hundreds, and hundreds turned to thousands. It was incredible and we felt so blessed.
7. Our trials give others the opportunity to serve. As difficult as it might be to be on the receiving end, it’s necessary at different times in our lives.
We saw the Lord’s hand in so many small acts of service given to us by neighbors and friends. People wrote us kind letters with thoughts of encouragement. Others sent small amounts of money anonymously. It was all very much appreciated and we are grateful for the services rendered.
After only a few months, my husband was able to find a new job–for which we are very thankful! The truly amazing thing is, due to the changes we
quickly made in our lives, not only did we not have to touch our
savings, but we added to it!
If I can pass on one piece of advice for others who find themselves suddenly unemployed it’s this: even in this economy, you have more influence on your personal and financial situations than you think. Never forget the power of prayer and hard work!
Jessica blogs about all the deals, steals, and freebies available in Utah at her blog Utah Deal Diva.
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
photo by pfala
Guest Post by Jenny Whitney
Paying with cash…we all did it at one point. When you are a child and are too young to have a credit card or debit card or checkbook, it is quite socially acceptable to pay with your allowance or hard-earned lemonade stand money.
At some point in our society, though, paying with cash becomes more unusual. I, like most Americans, have a credit card, and since we pay it off in full each month, I always thought I was being as responsible as possible with our finances.
But as I started to learn about deals, I became intrigued by this Envelope System that I read about (you can read about it here, here, and here). Could it possibly help me to be a better steward of the money we’ve been given?
I decided to give it a try–but on a smaller scale. Our budget for groceries and consumable household supplies (soap, detergent, toilet paper, etc.) is $40 per week and I do almost all of the grocery shopping, so that seemed like a logical place to start. So it began.
Here’s basically how it worked for me:
As I headed out to go grocery shopping on my first cash-only day, I stopped by the ATM and took out $40. I stuck it in an envelope and only used that to pay for all of our groceries. If I happened to purchase other items (gifts, clothing, etc.) while I was grocery shopping, I just asked the cashier to do separate transactions.
The following week, I added another $40 to the change from the previous week. And this same pattern has repeated now for about three months. It seems so simple–but it’s teaching me a lot about how I shop.
Here are six lessons I am learning:
1) No Mental Math Needed–Before trying out the envelope system, I would mentally try to add up how much I had spent at various stores in my head to see how much I had left. Well, if you’ve ever taught mental math, you know that estimation is an oft-used strategy. Needless to say, I often went over my budget using this strategy (without even realizing it until checking our statements later).
Many weeks, the amount was as little as $5, but that adds up to $260 over the course of a year–the equivalent of over 6 weeks of groceries on our budget! With the envelopes, figuring out how much I have left to spend is easy–just look in the envelope.
2) When You’re Done, You’re Done–It was so tempting for me to “borrow” from future weeks before trying out the envelope system. If I found a great deal, or just really wanted to make a particular recipe, I would just tell myself I would spend less the next week. Of course, when next week rolled around, I would have either forgotten or have convinced myself that I should go ahead and spend the full budgeted amount. Having a certain amount in cash has really helped me develop the discipline of saying, “Enough’s enough.”
3) Jell-O is Not a Food Group–Although I try to stockpile, there are certain staples that we need to get pretty regularly (like milk, eggs, fresh fruits, and vegetables, etc.). The first week that I tried out the envelope system, I realized something very important: If I do the “deals” first and then look to buy the staples, I’ll run out of money and have to decide between eggs and milk. Although I meal-planned and shopped off of a list before going cash-only, I now prioritize my list based on what we need and what we can do without.
4) What’s the OOP (really?)–Check out many deal forums and you’ll see a discussion on a “free” item, only to realize that you’ll get a gift card/Catalina/ECB/Register Reward when you purchase the item for the amount you spent. Before the envelope system, it was really easy to let myself believe that I was getting the item for free–but what I’ve learned is that when I pull out some money from that envelope, that’s money I no longer have to spend.
Although I might have a money replacement, I am often limited on where and when I can use it. That doesn’t mean I never do these deals, but it does help me to be much more aware of what my real out-of-pocket expenses are and I don’t justify going over my budget by saying that I’ll get a gift card back.
(Note: I know “rolling” gift cards and Catalinas makes for some great deals; I just think it was easy for me to forget they actually cost something to start with.)
5) Life Will Go On–If you are anything like me, discovering the world of coupons and deals was a turning point in my life (“You mean I don’t have to pay for toothpaste or razors ever again?”). I will admit that during the first few months, I went a bit overboard. I felt the need to do every deal and print out every coupon.
With the Envelope System, I am learning to let go of some of the deals and I am finding out that it is okay–we still have more than we need.
6) Rely on the Lord. I like being in control and couponing fed that feeling for me. I know more about “the systems” than most cashiers around here and I know what I am able to get for free or really cheap. I found that putting limitations on my couponing (through having to prioritize, miss deals, etc.) has helped me to remember the real Source of all that we have and consequently not worry about it.
So, what’s the bottom line? I tried out the envelope system thinking that I might save some money, and I have. More importantly, though, I’ve learned lessons that will help me to be a better steward of the money we have. I don’t know if the rest of our lives will transfer over to the Envelope System, but I know the things I’ve learned will.
Note: These are simply lessons I am learning; I don’t suggest that they are universal to all bargain shoppers. However, I would encourage you to try out a cash-only system (even if only for groceries) and see what you learn about yourself. You just might be surprised!
Jenny Whitney is a stay-at-home mom of a lively one-year-old son. She is learning to be a loving graceful wife and mother, happy homemaker, and responsible steward of all of her resources.
From Money Saving Mom: Do you follow The Envelope System or have a cash-only policy for some or most of your purchases? If so, I'd love to hear how it works for your family. If you'd like to learn how it works for us or how to get started making it work for you, too, you can check out my article here.
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Guest Post by Jill Savage from Hearts at Home
Every child has their own financial personality. Three of our children are savers. Two are spenders. Of course, they take after both my husband and me, who sit at opposite ends of the spending/saving spectrum ourselves.
Regardless of our default tendencies in money matters, it is vital that as parents we teach our children sound financial principles. Their ability to handle money as an adult will be influenced by the financial education we impart as well as the habits we model ourselves.
Because faith is an important part of our life, we base our financial education on the 10-10-80 principle: 10% to God, 10% to savings, and 80% for spending. This provides us a foundation for all of our money lessons.
If you are trying to teach your kids good money management skills, here are some practical financial strategies to consider:
1) Resist making loans. Invariably, the kids will ask for an advance on their allowance or a short-term loan until their allowance or next paycheck and it is tempting to front them the money. However, this can plant the seed that borrowing is an optional financial strategy for short-term pleasures.
2) Teach them to spend based upon a budget rather than a paycheck. Help your children to identify budget categories like entertainment, future events (concerts, ski trips, etc), gas and auto expenses (if they are driving), clothing, and Christmas to allow them to learn the value of truly "managing" their money. If they sock away a certain amount or percentage into each category each time they are paid, then they will most likely have money for the things they want to do. This also teaches delayed gratification where they learn to wait for the things they want through short-term sacrifice rather than getting short-term gratification with long-term consequences (debt).
3) Open a checking account with your teen. Ideally this would happen a year or two before they go to college so they can learn to manage the account with your guiding hand. Teach them how to keep good records and how to reconcile their account each month. Set aside a regular time each week to financially "check in" with your teen, going over their register, checking the account online, and overseeing their reconciliation.
4) Rather than starting your teen with a debit card, ask the bank for an ATM card. There is a common misunderstanding that a debit card purchase will be denied if the bank account is overdrawn. However, a debit purchase is only denied after the account is already overdrawn and fees have likely been incurred. This is because the bank doesn’t know what purchases haven’t yet posted to the account. Therefore, it won’t stop a new purchase because it isn’t aware of recent purchases until it’s too late.
An ATM card allows access to cash anytime, but keeps teens from over-drafting the account with unrecorded debit purchases. There is still a risk of overdraft with an ATM card if the teen is writing checks and not keeping good records, but the risk is definitely less than if they are using a debit card.
5) Teach kids to shop wisely. Kids can use their fledgling math skills to divide the cost of a product by the ounces in the container to get a per-ounce price that allows them to make cost comparisons. Taking along a small calculator can come in handy.
6) Educate your kids about confusing marketing tactics, misleading credit card offers, and hidden costs in purchases. Television commercials provide many examples of misleading marketing tactics that our kids need to understand. The dozens of credit card offers we get in the mail can become an instant lesson in the dangers of borrowing money and how the minimum payment keeps a person in debt for years. Online purchases include shipping and handling costs that kids need to figure into the final price for an item they might want to purchase.
Certainly our spenders need to learn to be savers and our savers need to learn how to spend wisely. However, the most important lesson our children need to learn is money can manage us or we can manage our money!
Jill Savage is the founder and Executive Director of Hearts at Home. A mother of five, Jill is the author of seven books including My Heart's at Home.You can find Jill's website and blog at www.JillSavage.org.
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
I was excited to find out this morning that Dave Ramsey's Town Hall for Hope is now available to watch for free on Hulu. If you were unable to attend the event or would like to watch it again, you can go here to do so.
I highly recommend everyone watch this–especially if you need some encouragement and hope regarding the economy and your own personal financial situation. And if you're interested, you can read my thoughts on it here.
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
MoneySavingMom.com is an upbeat and encouraging blog dedicated to helping you find great deals, stretch your hard-earned dollars, and live on less than you make so you can save more and give more. I'm glad to have you here!
