Sure was fun buying the gifts. Paying them off now that the credit card bill has arrived? Not so much. Breezy Mama turned to Jerrold Mundis, a financial therapist and author of the bestselling book How to Get Out of Debt, Stay Out of Debt, and Live Prosperously for help. Plus! His tips on steps to take to keep your family spending in-line (ahem).
All right – we overspent on the holidays and are getting the credit card bills – now what? In other words, what’s your advice for paying off the bills?
Make paying them off a priority. Especially if you Read More…
Ahhhh… date night! It’s the end all, be all in our household. Nothing like a romantic reminder of how it all began and a refreshing way to keep the passion alive. And, with a little creativity in the finance department, you’ll see that all you need is love to make your time alone together great. Plus – tips to save on sitters!
10. Make it a Home Sweet Home First
Eat your meal before you head out, then leave for an after dinner drink or head to a Read More…
Similar to Fight Club, I’m convinced that the first rule of Minivan Club is to swear to all that you love yours. Pretty much everyone I know hated having to buy one, but then can’t stop singing its praises. Nonetheless, even with three kids, I have still managed to hold off after writing the following article about minivans for Geezeo.com a year ago. Are you going to convince me otherwise?
It’s time to hammer the last nail into my proverbial youth coffin: purchasing a minivan. Baby number three arrives in a month and my current Ford Escape won’t accommodate a trio of car seats. My non-minivan driving friends and brothers are appalled, but Read More…
Listen, I’m not the crafternoon type whatsoever. And if the hubby and I don’t get the kids out of the house after two or so hours (or at least figure out something for them to do), mayhem ensues. Therefore, per Breezy Mama Alysha’s request, here are some of the activities we do to Read More…
Finance at a glance contributed by Geezeo
by Althea Chang | MainStreet.com
You know you should, but it’s difficult to feed the piggy bank every time you get paid. Luckily, new bank accounts and the power of automatic savings plans may make it easier. And every little bit counts, after all.
Simple Savings
“Saving is a whole lot simpler when you don’t have to think about it,” says a Bank of America marketing campaign for its Keep the Change program. With every purchase you make with your Bank of America check card, your purchase amount is rounded up to the nearest dollar, and the difference is deposited into a savings account. Bank of America also says it will match your savings for the first three months after you enroll in the program and match 5% per year after that, up to $250.
If you have a Wachovia checking account, you can open a Way2Save account. Each time you make a purchase with your check card, pay a bill online or set up an automatic debit from your checking account, $1 will be transferred from your checking account to your Way2Save account, which gets a guaranteed APY of 5% for the first year, plus they’ll add on 5% of the amount you’ve saved. You can also set up automatic transfers of up to $100 a month, from your checking account to your Way2Save account.
Of course, many banks let you set up automatic transfers from Read More…
Finance at a glance contributed by Geezeo
by Chelsea P. Gladden
Many new parents can easily get suckered into thinking that if they don’t start their child in a music class by 5 months of age, she will already be behind all the other babies. Sure, it may sound crazy, but conscientious parents are just listening to claims such as “music helps brain development!” Speaking from experience however, walk into any music class for babies and notice lots of happy little ones lying on their backs, cooing to their mothers and/or fathers and occasionally shaking maracas off beat when they aren’t trying to suck on them to help with teething – little Albert Einsteins in the making!
What signing up for classes with your baby WILL do, is get you out of the house – a regularly scheduled and paid for class could be the extra motivation you need—and interacting with other parents. A little adult conversation will likely boost your spirits and in the end help you be better suited to give your child the love she needs. However, if you want to believe that it will also boost brain power versus just more drumstick-sucking-drool, here’s what it’s going to cost you. Read More…
Finance at a glance contributed by Geezeo
Want Financially Responsible Kids? Start Early
by MainStreet.com Staff Writers
When it comes to getting what they want, kids are quick studies. Why not use that trait to teach your kids how to manage money from an early age? These days, many adults are learning the importance of fiscal responsibility the hard way. You can save your kids from those hard lessons by making them money savvy from the beginning.
Here are some strategies you can use to instill solid financial habits in your children early: Read More…
Finance at a glance contributed by Geezeo
5 College Savings Alternatives to 529 Plans
by MainStreet.com Staff Writers
529 college savings plans are accounts set aside by parents, grandparents or guardians to pay for the future tuition of young children. Earnings grow tax-deferred, and the minimum contributions are kept low to allow various families to be able to afford these plans (i.e. $50 a month). Further, funds are not subject to taxation when they are withdrawn, as long as they are used for approved educational purposes.
But 529 plans do have a contribution limit. So if you’re looking to give more to your child’s education (or you want to shop around before settling on a savings plan), here are some other options.
Coverdell Education Savings Account (CESA)
CESAs can be purchased through most brokerage and fund companies. This option provides broad investment choices and features tax-free earnings as long as they are used to pay for qualified education expenses, including Read More…
Finance at a glance contributed by Geezeo
How to Talk to Your Aging Parents About Their Money
by Katie McCaskey
You’ve imagined it. And it doesn’t sound like fun. You, as an adult child, having an awkward, perhaps heated, discussion about money with your aging parent(s).
Well, hard as it may be, avoiding a “money talk” with your parents can have crippling consequences. Here’s a brief list of disasters that can stem from avoiding the “parent money talk”:
- A medical emergency happens. Who’s going to pay for it?
- You underestimate the cost of elder care — either in the home, or moving your parent somewhere else. Who’s gonna pay?
- You never discuss who gets so-and-so’s Read More…
Finance at a glance contributed by Geezeo
Whole Foods, not Whole Paycheck
by Michelle Pfennighaus
Time and time again I hear the same story: “I want to shop at Whole Foods [or other health food grocery store] but it’s too expensive.”
Let me start by saying this: Food Should Cost Money. The only thing in your life more important than food is water. Not TVs, not cars, not even heating your home. Not even that cute little dress in the catalog that came in the mail yesterday. The one with the V-neck and shirring… wait… No. Food and water.
Ok, so I understand the shopping dilemma. Milk and Cheerios at the conventional grocery store cost less than their counterparts at Whole Foods.
But what if it’s more about shopping habits than the store you happen to shop in?
When you really start to shop smart you’ll find that it is the conventional grocery stores that cost you more.
1. So start planning, sista
This is maybe the most important step to eating well/spending less. Before you hit the store, decide what you are going to cook and make a list of things you need to buy. Do this in your kitchen so if a recipe calls for garlic you can look and see if you already have enough. And this is a great point – make your meal plan around things you already have in the house and you will need to buy much less. And learn from my mistakes Read More…
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