Mom’s Money

How Much Are You Paying In Bank Fees?

I never used to pay attention to the small amount of money trickling out of my bank account for service fees, ATM transaction charges, and the like.  It never seemed to amount to THAT much… but, how much do you consider THAT much nowadays?

If you’re one of many folks working for an hourly wage, look at your bank statement again, add up those fees, and translate that into time spent at work.  Did those service fees and ATM transaction fees add up to an hour of your time or even more?  If you pay the bank the equivalent of one hour’s wages every month for a year, you’ve just given up 12 hours of your working life to your bank.  Would you go and sit in your bank’s lobby for 12 hours instead of go to work?  Oh, goodness no.  You can’t afford to miss 12 hours of work!  So, why would you just hand them your hard earned money?

Banks are in a real pickle these days.  They need our money, desperately.  Some banks are trying to get more of our money by raising their service fee rates, but other, smarter banks know that the real path to survival is lowering or eliminating fees in order to get and keep our business.

Here’s what every frugal Mom needs to do today.  Get out your last bank statement and review the service charges and ATM fees.  Once you know what you are typically being charged, visit your bank and discuss your options and any special incentives they may have to keep your business.  If what they tell you doesn’t inspire you to stay, visit another bank and have them pitch you their reasons why you would want to bank with them.  Visit a third or fourth bank, if necessary, to find out what everyone has to offer.  Some banks will offer free checking with a minimum balance, some will offer free ATM use at any ATM machine, reimbursing you for any charges you incur outside their bank’s ATM machine.  It’s no longer about the free toaster or calculator, it’s all about the money!

Time to play a little hardball, Mom.  You may have had a relationship with the same bank for years, but if they are not willing to work with you to save you some money, they are not showing the love you thought they were.  Time perhaps to break off that relationship and move on.  It’s your money… hang on to more of it!

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Postage Is On The Increase Very Soon

I know you probably don’t send mail a whole lot anymore what with email, texting, and twittering.  But, Mom, you probably still use the mail for some things, like getting those school pictures to Grandma, sending thank you notes (yes, kids, it’s still the proper thing to do), sending sympathy cards, get-well cards, and all sorts of personal wishes.  So, a little heads-up here could save you a bit of cash.

This is just a quick reminder that the USPS is raising their postage rates effective May 11, 2009, from 42-cents to 44-cents.  Why warn you now?  Because the post office offers what’s called the “Forever Stamps”.  Purchase these stamps before the rate increase at the current 42-cent rate and you can use them as long as you want.  They will not expire when the new rates go into effect.  As a matter of fact, like the name suggests, you can use those stamps forever, even through years of rate increases.  If you think you’ll be mailing rather regularly throughout the upcoming year or so, buy several books.  Don’t wait too long because the Post Office only prints a certain amount of these stamps.  When they run out, they run out.

It looks like the rates for all the services will be getting an increase, so if you’re sitting on a package you meant to mail some time ago, now is the time to get that package out.  Of course, you’ll want to compare the price to that of other shipping services, but if the USPS is the way to go, go now and save.

Just thought you’d like to know.  It’s only 2-cents, but every penny really does matter when you’re trying to raise a family on a tight budget.

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A Penny Saved Is A Penny Earned – A Lesson That Needs Your Help

You and I may have grown up with those words planted in our little heads, but maybe not this younger generation.  Our children were born and raised in a world of instant gratification, a world of swiping plastic for everything, a world without cash.  How many households still have “penny jars” around, let alone savings books?

I certainly remember having a savings book from the bank.  Perhaps you had a babysitting job or paper route and put half the money you earned in your savings account.  If so, you’ll remember the sense of accomplishment as you watched that dollar amount grow.  Each time you deposited your money, the amount was adjusted to reflect your new balance with the always surprising addition of a few cents of earned interest.  What a wonderful feeling to earn money for just saving it!

This is a part of our youngsters’ lives that is missing, in my book.  I feel that the sheer pleasure of saving your money, hopefully to have enough someday to buy something wonderful, is a pleasure that our children need to learn.  The desire to buy something new, and working hard to save your money to get it, is an under-appreciated thrill these days.

I may be waxing a little nostalgic, true, but I also feel this little savings book idea is a good one to teach your children the importance of building a nest-egg in the future.  When your children reach adulthood they’ll need to have the tools to create a financial security in their own lives, and someday the lives of their own family.

Your bank may no longer give out savings books to their young depositors, but they’ll surely print out the balance so your child can see their savings in action. I’d like to see you give this little plan a try.  Open a savings account with your child, perhaps with their next birthday gift of money.  Ask your child to think of a goal, something they would like to buy or do in the future.

Encourage your child to continue depositing gifts of money and earnings so they may see their savings grow.  Stop at the bank often to watch the results.  Be sure your child’s goal is far enough in the future so that you can watch the savings for an extended period of time.  Then, when the day comes that they can realize their goal, be there with a smile, a big hug, and a hearty “job well done!”

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Free Earth Day Activities For Kids

Okay, Mom, I know your day is jam-packed with work, errands, cooking, cleaning, chauffeuring, and all those things you’ve got to get done before it’s lights-out tonight.  But, today is Earth Day and your kids are going to need a bit of your time and a lot of your input.

There are good reasons why Earth Day observance is important to you and your money.  Of course, the most obvious is saving our planet, because we won’t need to talk about saving money if we don’t first save our planet.  We all prefer to breathe clean air, swim in clean lakes, and hike our wooded trails without running into a nasty garbage dump.  But, it’s more than what we prefer, it’s about the actual health of our planet.  So, that’s discussion number one.  Let your children know that if we don’t change our wasteful ways, the planet will suffer.  And, when the planet suffers, we suffer.

We all know some simple ways to make an impact on our environment in our very own home.  Involve your kids in a quick assessment of all the things you’re currently doing to conserve energy and resources.  Have you turned the temperature on the air conditioner up a couple degrees and the furnace down a couple degrees?  Is your water heater temperature set lower and have you wrapped the water heater in an insulating blanket?  Are you using a water hose to clean off your front step when a broom and bucket of water would work just fine and save water?  Do you have a clothesline that’s been abandoned?  Let your kids set the pace for the discussion and involve them in your plans to improve your energy usage.  You’ll want to click here for the USA Environmental Protection Agency’s Kids Fun Activities site for all sorts of learning tools and great fun stuff to do.

Your next step is to review with your kids the “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” strategy in your home.  Are you currently doing everything you can to reduce your “throw away” items?  How about reusing some of the things you buy?  Is your recycling area easy to use and is everyone in the family participating?  Again, ask your kids to give you some ideas about what they think could be changed in your home and lifestyle to reduce, reuse, and recycle even more.  Be sure to check out the free activities to help your kids learn about how they can help save the planet by going to the US EPA Kids Activities site.

Now, Mom, this is a good lesson for your children to learn, and the free Kids Activities on the EPA site are fun to do, but you’re wondering how all this is going to save you money.  That’s the easy part.  By doing all those earth-friendly energy saving steps, you are reducing your energy usage which simply saves you money.  Conservation is a good lesson for all of us to learn because when we practice these simple steps, we help the earth, which helps its inhabitants… us!

After your lessons and activities with the kids are through, enjoy a walk outdoors, perhaps in a local park, and tell your kids how important it is to you to leave a clean earth for them, and some day, their children.  Have a Happy Earth Day today, enjoy a few fun activities with your kids, and save a bit of your hard earned cash in the process.  Now, that’s a good day!

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Time To Do More Than Clip Coupons

If you have been cutting back on every single item on your budget, but still the balance on your credit cards doesn’t seem to be dropping, it may be time to do more.  It may be time to consolidate your debt.

This is a hard step for many families to take because it requires a lot of time, a great deal of investigating, and ultimately, trust. There are some steps that need to be taken before you get anywhere close to breathing that much needed sigh of relief.

1)  Call each credit card company and request a lower interest rate and lower payments each month, plus reversal of any late fees and overage charges.  You’ll need to make this effort before you consider debt consolidation because it may save you money.  Your debt consolidator will do this very same thing for you and charge you for the service, so if you have already done your best to work with your credit card companies, that step is done and you should not be charged for it.

2)  Talk to friends and family about debt consolidators in your area.  Call the Better Business Bureau to get all the information they have.  If you have a good relationship with your bank, stop in and discuss your plans with them.

3)  Once you have the name of a couple reliable debt consolidators, call each one and set up an appointment to meet before any financial information is shared.  You want to meet face-to-face as that is the only way to involve someone in your personal finances.  If you decide this is the person you want to hire, ask what specific information and paperwork you’ll need to bring along with you and how much time is permitted for your appointment.  Have everything together when you go.  A forgotten document could cost you in time and money.

4)  When you go to the meeting, be fully prepared, both with your paperwork and emotionally.  It will be unnerving to talk about your financial situation.  Money problems always touch a raw nerve in people, so take a deep breath, and realize that this is a professional who has your best interest in mind.  That is precisely why you met in person before this first session involving actual financial detail.

5)   Follow your debt consolidation expert’s advice to the letter.  Once you get a plan developed, the trick is to stick to it.  After several months, you may want to revisit your debt consolidator to review any changes or address any concerns you still may have.

Now, debt consolidation is not for everyone, but it may be the best route for you and your family to take if you’re not getting anywhere near your goals.  If, after you do the research, you decide it’s not for you, there’s no harm done.  It’s worth the time to find out what your options are and if debt consolidation is something that will work for you.  Everything you do to save money will help save your family’s financial future.

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Pet Expenses Can Cause Stress During Tough Times

That little furry friend of yours is a wonderful companion that not only gives you love unconditionally, but calms your nerves, too.  Many studies show that stroking your cat or dog actually lowers blood pressure.

However, that sweet little snookums that shares your life is costing you money.  And, when you start to worry about money, you get stressed and your nerves get rattled and your blood pressure goes up.  So, we go back to petting our little kitty or puppy on our lap and calm down again.  The expenses are still on your mind… and here we go again.

It’s a vicious cycle, one that must be stopped for your peace of mind.  We need our pets.  We love our pets. We can’t live without our pets.  So, how do we manage this “expense versus love” problem?  How do we save on our pet’s expenses?

By shopping wisely, of course.  If your family doesn’t already have a pet, but is in the market, shop wisely. Consider the type of pet your family can afford.  Do your research BEFORE you bring a new pet into your home.  What will this pet need by way of equipment, food, toys, and medical care?  Do your homework so you are not surprised by any unanticipated expenses.

When it comes to acquiring a pet, check with friends and family first.  Check the shelters.  Often, shelters will include free first-time vaccinations as well as the spay or neuter for free.  Rescue a pet from a family who is moving and can’t take their pet with them.  Investigate each situation on its own merits, making sure you walk in fully armed with the information you need to make an intelligent decision.

When you get your pet home, practice the same sort of preventative medicine with your pet that you do with yourself and your family.  Proper food, water, and exercise may prevent sickness or injury in the future that could result in an expensive trip to the veterinarian.  Research your pet’s diet needs with people who know, like your vet, or go online to find information regarding all sorts of issues relating to your particular pet.

The worse expense is the unexpected expense.  Thoroughly investigate each expense for your pet and include your pet’s expenses in your family budget.  Now, the next time you look into your pet’s eyes, you won’t be worried about money, you will think of nothing but love… oh, and “Honey, where’s the leash?”

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Are Your Digital Pictures Good? Turn That Talent Into Money

Since you’ve started using a digital camera, have you notice that you have a talent for getting the shot just right?  Does the composition of the picture look pleasing to you?  Have you found yourself investigating all the settings on your camera?  And, when you load your pictures on the computer, do you start looking for new ways to enhance your photos, searching for new online photo shops to play around in?  Have other people told you they like your pictures?

You may just be a digital shutterbug!  Digital photography is popular for many reasons.  The cameras are easy to carry, fitting neatly in most purses.  The prices are coming down and the quality of the photos keeps improving.  You can take a seemingly endless amount of pictures and you only print the ones you want.

This brings up an interesting new money-making opportunity for Moms like you.  You’ve got a digital camera that you take everywhere, right? And, your pictures turn out better than most you’ve seen?  Why not start offering your services to Moms and others who simply would like someone other than themselves to record memorable moments in their family’s life?

You know how it is.  Most Moms are so busy at birthday parties, confirmations, or ballet recitals, that they either forget to take pictures or regret not being in any of the pictures taken.  Or, they want to see the dance recital themselves, and not through the lens of a camera.  They may just like someone with a little bit of talent and the proper equipment to capture the moment.

There are a few essentials to start a simple digital photography business.  You’ll need a good digital camera and a good laptop computer for your presentation.  With those two basics, start simply by going to your friends and groups of Moms you know.  Let them in on what you’re doing.

Begin by offering to take pictures of a birthday party or dance recital for free for a friend.  The reason you want to offer your services free to a friend at first is to get over your nervousness and to get a little experience.  Put your digital pictures of the event on your computer and copy to a disc.  Go to your friend with your laptop and present your pictures.  Let your friend choose the photos they like and order the prints.  When you get the prints, put them together in a nice portfolio and present them with your thanks for letting you get your feet wet at her child’s special event.

Once you lose the jitters and figure out what you did right and what you did wrong, get those business cards printed and start looking for photo opportunities within your own network of friends and acquaintances.  You love taking pictures… so start making money at it!

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Hey Mom - It’s Thrift Store Season!

Thrift stores have a season?  You bet they do!  In fact, they have several “seasons” each year.  The trick is to find the right season for your family’s needs.

Most folks hibernate a bit in the winter and really don’t get into an organizing and cleaning mood until spring.  Even in balmier climates, winter still takes on a lazier feeling.  We tend to slow down a bit, even if it is just a mental process and not an actual need to avoid the snow and ice on the roads.

But, when spring comes around, we get back into gear.  We’re ready once again to tackle our closets, garages, basements, and attics.  And, oh what treasures we find.  It’s not exactly OUR treasure we’re finding… but it will be somebody’s.

Our boxes of “trash” will soon find their way into the thrift stores, becoming someone else’s “treasure”.  Whether we find ourselves with piles of outgrown kids clothes, unused kitchen appliances (remember the food dehydrator?), or unloved furniture, we no longer want to burden ourselves with all this stuff, because, after all it’s spring!

Children’s clothing is one thing that takes a real leap forward and fills up the racks during the spring months. Seems we’re satisfied to keep shoving little Johnny’s outgrown jeans and shirts to the back of the closet all winter long.  When spring comes, we finally have to admit to ourselves that little Johnny will not shrink to fit his old clothes.  We dive into our children’s closets and drag out those old items that haven’t fit our children for months now.

After Christmas is a good time to find several types of items.  Ornaments and decorations, for instance.  That’s when many people realize they didn’t use all their ornaments again this year.  While some folks put them all away again, postponing the inevitable ornament-purging, there are always going to be a few brave souls who finally sort through their less-loved ornaments and decorations.  Those treasures will find their way into the thrift stores sometime in January or February when these fine folks get tired of tripping over the boxes marked “donate” sitting in the hallway.  If you’re a young family just starting out, perhaps an after-Christmas trip to the thrift store will get your own ornament collection started.  Then, twenty or thirty years down the road, you’ll be able to do the same thing and donate your old ornaments to a new family.

If you’re in the market for a party dress for your daughter or even for yourself, or a dress jacket for your little boy, the after Christmas and after Easter seasons are just right for you.  Depending on whether you need a wintry dress-up outfit or a summery dress-up outfit, shop the season that applies.  Even a few days after a holiday may reap some great rewards in fancy attire.

Kitchen items are not so easily predictable.  You may find that sometimes right after canning season is over, you can find canning supplies that someone didn’t want any more.  After Christmas, again, you may find cast-off appliances that are perfectly good but have been replaced by new ones received as a gift.  This would apply to electronics, as well.

Just use your own experience to gage when the thrift stores will have the most items you’re looking for.  If you clean and toss out stuff in the spring, chances are someone else does.  If your garage gets a thorough reorganization every fall before you have to actually use it to park your car in for the winter, chances are someone else is making room for their car, too.

Of course, you have to be thrifty in the amount of stuff you drag back home… or next season you’ll be taking even more trips to donate some of your own treasures!

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Feel Better to Function Better - How Fatigue Affects Your Pocketbook

I’ve been following a few methods for re-energizing myself during those sleepy afternoons I experience more and more often lately.  Simple methods, really, but I’ve found that when I started thinking about the days in which I don’t take a few minutes to rejuvenate, I fall off the “frugal wagon.”

For instance, instead of fighting that sluggish feeling, I give in and just close my eyes for 15 minutes.  It’s usually just enough to make me perk up again.  Another trick is one I saw on You Tube.  When the stress of the day starts to overwhelm me, I just close my eyes and roll my eyeballs around from side to side and up and down.  This works by sort of “stretching” the muscles around the eyes which relieves the strain that could be causing my stress and fatigue. Speaking of stretching, even a quick walk around the block to stretch my muscles and lungs can revitalize my whole mental and physical being.

I’ve also found that a cup of real coffee will pick me right up, that is, if I don’t overdo and have three or four cups.  I had been avoiding caffeine, but now I indulge in one cup and it works.  I do not, however, drink a whole pot like I used to.  That just destroys the whole benefit you get from the caffeine boost and you end up more tired than ever.  Another food related pick-me-up is eating protein and avoiding carbs.  I learned that little tidbit when I went on the South Beach Diet.

So, you ask, how is this low-energy and fatigue robbing me of my frugal living pledge and ruining my finely tuned budget?  It’s quite simple, really.  If you’re like me, you’ll find that when you’re tired and stressed, every effort seems to be enormous and makes you exhausted to even think about what’s ahead of you.  You start making short-cuts throughout the day.  See if any of this sounds familiar.

First, you are too exhausted to keep up your money journal, so you quit tracking the money you’re spending as you go about your errands.  Then, you eat out at work because you were too tired to pack a lunch.  Now, you’re on your way home, too tired to face the kids just yet , so you decide to let them stay in extended care at their school or daycare, which costs you even more money.  You call your husband, ask him to pick up the kids and to swing by the neighborhood convenience store for a few items because it was too much of an effort to do your regular grocery shopping as planned.  Of course, your husband has a sweet tooth and sees this as an opportunity to grab a candy bar, or two.  And, kids, go ahead and grab a couple bags of chips.  We can see where this day is headed.

Yup… to top it all off, you call for pizza delivery for the family dinner that night and put it on your credit card because you didn’t have the energy to stop at the bank to get some cash out of the grocery money account.  That snowball just keeps rolling.

Avoiding the destruction of your hard-fought budgeting success is something of which you can take control.  Don’t let fatigue take over your new frugal lifestyle.  It takes more than a paper filled with numbers to create and maintain your budget… it takes your focused physical and mental energy.  Take time out for yourself today and get back in the game.

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It’s Time To Re-Think Your Discretionary Cash

You no doubt have some kind of family budget.  You have an idea of your income and expenses, and hopefully are trying to save a bit each month, too.  However, if your situation has changed in the last few months, have you updated your budget to reflect your family’s needs?

A budget is a living thing.  It should reflect your family’s life.  You’ve already taken a hard look at your fixed expenses and decided what you can do to cut costs on mortgage, rent, heat, lights, water, and insurance.  What else needs to be done?

Once you get comfortable knowing where your fixed expenses are, it’s time to take a look at your discretionary spending, you know, the money that seems to disappear each month.  Yes, you have to feed and clothe your family, but at what cost?

Discretionary spending is the bane of our budget’s existence.  It seems to have a life of its own, apart from the family budget.  That’s not going to work for you as you try to corral your spending.  You will need to set limits, not just track, your discretionary spending.

I’m all for keeping a journal that records money spent each day.  However, that is only a tool.  Finding out where the money is going doesn’t stop the leak.  You will have to set limits, and stick to them if you want your financial future to be secure.  Every dollar you spend needlessly isn’t just THAT dollar lost, it’s the accumulated dollars lost as you try to pay off your interest-burdened debt. 

Here’s what you’ll need to do.  Every dollar needs to be planned.  Start with the bills that need to be paid each month, subtract that from your income and you are left with your discretionary cash.  This is where it gets tough.  This is no longer “discretionary” cash - this cash has fallen into your tight fist.  Plan every single dollar of that cash.

You start with your groceries, gas for the cars, clothing, school necessities, and savings.  Set limits and, if there is anything left, throw it back into savings.  This is the hard truth… there is no wiggle-room in your new family budget.  No one gets “walking around money.”  Yes, you have an emergency fund, but it’s not for a Cafe Latte! 

I challenge you to look at your existing budget and take 10% off the top of each flexible expense you have listed and put that amount in savings.  I guarantee you won’t miss a penny and you’ll be watching your savings grow and feeling a sense of accomplishment, and relief, as you plan for your family’s future.

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