Skip to main content

The Little Things


Sugary, caffeinated, carbonated beverages go by many names. What you call it depends on where you live. I grew up using the word “soda” but I have friends that say “pop” and know of others who just refer to everything as “Coke”. Regardless, you know what I’m talking about. Having one by any name once in a while will probably not do much damage. But one can a day for a year will pack on an extra 15 pounds. You can see that just a little bit at a time can add up to a lot, and not in a good way, because most of us want to lose weight, not gain it.
But, we’d all like to have a little extra MONEY. This is a key ingredient to reaching financial fitness.
Last week we talked about an emergency fund and how critical it is to get there quickly. There are things you can do to reach that goal in a flash, and you should, but once those things are done, they are not always easily duplicated. There are little ways to decrease your spending that can really add up. Here are some questions for you and your significant other to ask yourselves:
  • ·         Is our television service really that important? Can we change it for a streaming service?
  • ·         Can we eliminate my home phone? Can we find a cheaper cell plan?
  • ·         What subscriptions or memberships are we paying for that we don’t use?
  • ·         How much are we eating out? “Having drinks”? Can we brown-bag lunches?
  • ·         Can we combine trips in the car?
  • ·         Can we give up soda/coffee runs, pedicures, expensive haircuts?
  • ·         Can we work opposite shifts to cut down on daycare costs?
  • ·         Do we get a big tax return? Should we change our W4s to get more with each paycheck?
  • ·         By the way, now is a GREAT time to quit smoking.

Make it a game–sit down with your SO and see how much extra money you can “find” this week. Vincent Van Gogh said, “Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” Financial fitness is definitely one of those great things.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

One More–Christmas Experiences Part II

Christmas is just a week away. Hopefully you’ve checked everything off your to-do list and can spend some quality time “experiencing” Christmas gifts with your family. Because, after all, your loved ones will be far more touched by how you made them feel than they will be with what you gave them. This week, I want to share with you my sister, Carey’s, family Christmas experience. “One Christmas, when my boys, now 18, 23 and 28, were little, we gave them an experience that is still talked about now. And it’s something so easily replicated that any family can do it, and it’s not too late to do it for Christmas (even ON Christmas) this year. We drove around our neighborhood and looked at all the homes decorated for the holiday. We took note of the addresses as we numbered them. We talked about what made each ornamented yards stand out. And at the end of the night, we voted for our favorite. I had my sons help me make some of our favorite holiday desserts and, in addition to taking p...
Post a Comment
Read more

More Financial Help

As part of the Discovery Family Coalition, we work with many agencies whose purposes are to help families in a myriad of areas. One of those areas is finances (that I get to chat with you about every week–yay!). And right now, families need all the financial help they can get, mine included. One of our fellow coalition partners, the Utah Department of Health & Human Services Child & Family Services, also does what it can to get help, including financial help, to families who need it. I happen to be on an email list, and this week I got an email with this information: “The Connect toCollect(C2C) program is focused on increasing low-income Utahans' receipt of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) by educating individuals about this federal program and linking them to high quality, free tax preparation." What is the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)? It's a tax credit that  helps low- to moderate-income workers and families get a tax break. If you qualify, you can us...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Marshmallow Experiment

In 1972, Stanford did a study about delayed gratification with children. It involved giant marshmallows and testing their patience.  You can see a short YouTube video about the study here . Basically, the kids who could sit alone with a giant marshmallow without eating it for a certain length of time were rewarded with a second giant marshmallow. Fun, huh? Some kids could be patient and reap the rewards; some could not. I was a small child when the study was conducted, and I wonder which side I might have been on. I HAVE learned to be pretty patient as an adult. One of the areas in which I’ve seen improvement is in finances. I have become a good money manager–I could be paid once annually and budget so that I won’t run out before year’s end, including having enough money to pay my own quarterly taxes–self-employed people do that. Speaking of taxes, I try not to overpay so that I qualify for a “refund,” because the government does not practice The Marshmallow Experiment. Huh? ...
Post a Comment
Read more