I was asked to present an evening of ways to get the most out of your money for our ward Relief Society weekday meeting. Keep in mind that I'm a tax professional and not a financial planner. Yes, there is cross-over, but I even paid for a financial planner a couple years back to help me since I didn't have the time to look into where to allocate my funds for the highest yields, etc. That said, I'm still comfortable with numbers and talking about money so I accepted the assignment.
I was worried 1) that I'd run out of things to say or not have any really good advice and 2) that no one would be there. But the night went well! There was a good turnout and the discussion about how to save money with everyone contributing, in my opinion, was great. We have great sisters in our ward and everyone had good ideas.
Rather than keep these ideas to those of us in the room I thought I'd share them here for you, too. If you want to learn more about a topic leave a comment and I can do another post about it. Or, call me. :) I prepared the list and added the last section for things that came up in our discussion.
Budget
Church Guidelines
Pay Tithes/Offerings
Avoid Debt
Use a Budget
Build a Reserve
Teach Family Members
Mint.com - Free online for tracking expenses, budgeting, saving goals, & more tools
Balance Checkbooks & Credit Card Statements
Practice with Cash Envelopes
Family discussions
Needs vs Wants
Take a second look at fixed bills
The Church’s Provident Living Resources (providentliving.org)
Family Finances Pamphlet
Online Financial Course: Peace in Your Hearts
Quotes and Talks from Church Leaders
One for the Money: Guide to Family Finances
Online Financial Calculators
Family Finance Lesson Materials
Additional Resources
Protect Yourself - Insurance (An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure)
Home
Health
Life
Auto
Tax Planning
Avoid late payment, late filing, & underpayment penalties
401(k) Contributions
IRA (Traditional and Roth) Contributions
Health Savings Accounts
Dependent Care Savings
Itemized Deductions (above standard deduction amounts)
state tax (withheld and tax paid)
contributions (tithing, fast AND mileage for service/callings)
home mortgage & real estate tax
“Free” Money
Reduce/Eliminate debt
Credit Card Points (IF you pay off monthly)
Swagbucks.com - earn points for Google searches
401(k) Employer Match
Charitable Contribution Employer Match
Online discounts (e.g. retailmenot.com)
Discounts for paying up front
Groceries
Eliminate empty calories (drink more water, don’t buy soda, chips, candy, McDonalds, etc.)
Seasonal produce (on sale or from gardens, esp. high yield plants)
Shop the grocery sales
Meatless Monday
Coupons
Combine store sales with manufacturer coupons
Sunday-only newspaper subscription
Utah Deal Diva’s Couponing 101 (utahdealdiva.com)
coupons.com and coupons.redplum.com
Other Ideas
Sentimental or home-made gifts
Lengthen time between hair cuts
New uses for old things
Birthday clubs (Toys-R-Us, Aveda, etc)
Customer loyalty programs & emailings (Huggies, Pampers, WorldMarket, JoAnn Fabric, Michaels, etc.)
More from the Group Discussion
Pre-paid cell phones, especially for teenagers
$10 Costco cash from Schiff Vitamins
Allocate a % of your paycheck to direct deposit into a savings account
4 glass jars for kids's savings: Charity, Fun, Mid-Term Savings, and Long-Term Savings
Goodwill sells (with zero sales tax) excess inventory from Target and Orchard Supply Hardware
Use loose change to start savings accounts
Put coupon savings from your grocery trip into a savings account
Cook from scratch
Build it, sew it, make it yourself and consider trading/teaching skills
Pay extra on your loan payments (specify that the payment goes toward principal)
I do need to take a minute to credit two people in my life that have taught me about these topics. My Mom taught me a lot when I was still a child about budgeting, distinguishing needs and wants, building up savings and many more fundamentals that I've been able to build on. My sister-in-law Jessica, the Utah Deal Diva herself, has given me many of my recent tips & tricks and is my couponing inspiration. Thank you, Mom! Thank you, Jess!
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Getting Anson to Eat
Truth be told, Anson has always been a messy eater. From birth that's one of the differences I noticed between Claire and Anson. Claire was a steady, quiet & clean nurser. Anson grunts & sighs & drinks fast but lets the milk slop out of his mouth. Girl vs boy?
Since my week training in San Francisco mid-December he refuses his bottle. This past week none of us have been able to get Anson to eat anything from a spoon either. We're still nursing so he's not starving but the kid has to get food now that he's past 6 months. He's refusing food so much I can't even get the spoon in to let him taste the food - even applesauce that is yummy even for me. He even started crying & protesting with lips closed tight so I couldn't sneak the spoon in (smart boy!).
The only two times I've been able to get him to eat this week were when I gave up and let him play with the food bowl. To my surprise, he actually ate a ton once I gave in to having a mess. I'm not sure if he just has to know what's going in his mouth before he'll eat it, or if he's just distracted enough that I can get the spoon in, or if he actually thinks his hands are putting the food in his mouth. In any case, I think I need to buy a bunch of those Ikea smocks that Claire literally only wore twice since the bibs were sufficient. The smock for Anson today was a lifesaver - no, laundry saver. Do they make mechanic style jumpsuits for infants?
Here's my messy boy.
The bad news is, feeding time is going to require lots of clean-up until we get through this stage. (Please only be a stage!) The good news is, I've figured out how to keep my kid from starving. I sacrifice 2 spoonfuls to the tactile hands and get 8 spoons in.
Since my week training in San Francisco mid-December he refuses his bottle. This past week none of us have been able to get Anson to eat anything from a spoon either. We're still nursing so he's not starving but the kid has to get food now that he's past 6 months. He's refusing food so much I can't even get the spoon in to let him taste the food - even applesauce that is yummy even for me. He even started crying & protesting with lips closed tight so I couldn't sneak the spoon in (smart boy!).
The only two times I've been able to get him to eat this week were when I gave up and let him play with the food bowl. To my surprise, he actually ate a ton once I gave in to having a mess. I'm not sure if he just has to know what's going in his mouth before he'll eat it, or if he's just distracted enough that I can get the spoon in, or if he actually thinks his hands are putting the food in his mouth. In any case, I think I need to buy a bunch of those Ikea smocks that Claire literally only wore twice since the bibs were sufficient. The smock for Anson today was a lifesaver - no, laundry saver. Do they make mechanic style jumpsuits for infants?
Here's my messy boy.
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| Yeah, the outside of the bowl is just as messy as the inside... Let's not talk about the state of my hands or clothes afterward. |
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Merry Christmas!
I've got to figure why my life feels so rushed all the time and what I can do to fix that but since Dec 23rd I finally feel like I can relax and enjoy life. It feels great! The house was decorated, the gifts all purchased (most done online!), Christmas letter done and accepted the fact that I wasn't doing any holiday baking this year. A week long training in San Francisco mid-December made me make some decisions about what to cut.
Decorating the house was easy and fun this year. Claire is old enough now to sort-of help. We had a great time decorating the tree and listening to Christmas music. I expected her to hang ornaments on the lower branches while I worked above, but that wasn't enough for her. She was excited about each ornament to hang. And after each one she would say, "Beautiful! But not beautiful enough!" and grab another ornament. She also did all sorts of acrobatics to hang ornaments where she thought there was too much space in the higher branches. She tip-toed on the sofa arm, stacked Anson's Bumbo chair, boxes, and her bathroom stool, I got out the bar stool but that wasn't good enough so she brought her stool on top of THAT, too. Ay! I would get worried and stand close to catch her if she fell but that only made her nervous that I would take her down and she'd get shaky so I realized I needed to step AWAY for her safety. In the end, she never lost her balance and she did a great job decorating.
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were nice and low-key. Here's our happy two days.
Yay for lots of time with family, lots of food, presents, and relaxing.
This Christmas has been special. It's Anson's first Christmas. I think it's the first Christmas where Claire is really starting to "get it" but also not to the point where she has expectations. She's starting to get the whole Christmas gift giving and Santa thing, but we've also taken time to talk about the meaning and symbols of Christmas. It's a time when we think more about Jesus Christ, His life and love for us. I've had some magic moments teaching her and I'm so glad that this season means so much to us.
Decorating the house was easy and fun this year. Claire is old enough now to sort-of help. We had a great time decorating the tree and listening to Christmas music. I expected her to hang ornaments on the lower branches while I worked above, but that wasn't enough for her. She was excited about each ornament to hang. And after each one she would say, "Beautiful! But not beautiful enough!" and grab another ornament. She also did all sorts of acrobatics to hang ornaments where she thought there was too much space in the higher branches. She tip-toed on the sofa arm, stacked Anson's Bumbo chair, boxes, and her bathroom stool, I got out the bar stool but that wasn't good enough so she brought her stool on top of THAT, too. Ay! I would get worried and stand close to catch her if she fell but that only made her nervous that I would take her down and she'd get shaky so I realized I needed to step AWAY for her safety. In the end, she never lost her balance and she did a great job decorating.
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| Claire just had to get to the top of our 7-ft tree. |
Yay for lots of time with family, lots of food, presents, and relaxing.
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| We got to call Uncle Sam on his mission in Brazil on Christmas morning. |
This Christmas has been special. It's Anson's first Christmas. I think it's the first Christmas where Claire is really starting to "get it" but also not to the point where she has expectations. She's starting to get the whole Christmas gift giving and Santa thing, but we've also taken time to talk about the meaning and symbols of Christmas. It's a time when we think more about Jesus Christ, His life and love for us. I've had some magic moments teaching her and I'm so glad that this season means so much to us.
Merry Christmas, everyone!
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Thanksgiving Vacation 2010 Via Pictures
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| 1st Stop: Las Vegas. Luxor hotel. Room on the 30th floor. After checking in we went to dinner with my Uncle Kevin & his family. We went to church with them the next day, too. Why didn't I take pictures of them - dang! |
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| At the Belagio waterfront |
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| While we packed up to leave, Claire settled in to stay. |
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| 2nd Stop: Bumbleberry Inn at Zion National Park |
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| The view from our room. |
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| Lots of deer. |
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| This waterfall had frozen and as it "melted" (we were still freezing) ice chunks would fall with a crash. |
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| Last Destination: Bountiful / No. Salt Lake for Thanksgiving with family. We rented the Club House in Adrian & Jessica's neighborhood so we could have lots of room for food and play. The kids play room with half-door and glass wall was a super bonus. |
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| Claire had been waiting to play in the snow in the backyard since we arrived. The last day she finally got to. :) |
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Anson at 5 Months
Here's our boy at 5 months. Handsome. Happy. and ONE TOOTH!
update 11/10/10: TWO TEETH!
update 11/10/10: TWO TEETH!
Halloween 2010
Where to start on the topic... And be prepared for some boasting. I've been busy!
Having Amanda living here she asked early on if she could come trick-or-treating with us. We decided we should do a theme for all of our costumes. Claire wanted to be a princess so we slotted Anson to be a dragon, Amanda the knight (or dragon slayer/tamer), and Blake and I as King and Queen.
I always try to spend as little $$ as possible on costumes and I really don't like those expensive & flimsy packaged ones so the hunt was on. I found Anson's costume first for $12 and decided I couldn't make it for less than that and it was reasonable. That first purchase was the most expensive part. Claire had a fancy Easter dress I figured we could use, and I still have some old prom dresses - which I still fit into! So we'd just have to add on to those dresses to make them look royal. I started asking around for costume pieces from Blake's and my mom. My mom had Renaissance costumes from her step-sons in the attic which we used for Blake's costume AND she had REAL CHAIN MAIL that Amanda was excited to wear. That stuff was HEAVY!!! She didn't have any royal capes, but did have leftover fabric.
Now, I'm not a seamstress by any stretch of the imagination. I barely can sew a straight line. But I figured capes for all three of us couldn't be too bad. I looked online for some examples and was encouraged. Each would be one piece of fabric with straight lines. Thanks to some (ok, lots of) help & encouragement from my mother-in-law and her sewing machine & supplies I was able to make our capes. My mantra was, "It's only a costume. It's fine." Decorating them was fun. Claire loved putting the glitter on her and my capes and did a great job. Amanda's knight cover took a little more doing but this amateur still got hers done and didn't have to buy a thing.
And then when we found out Christy would be here for Halloween we decided she needed to join the group costume. She was a court jester and was able to make her costume out of things she already owned. Wohoo!
Of all 6 costumes we only bought Anson's costume, gold clasps for the capes, jewel stickers, gold decorative ribbon, and crowns.
Here's our group photos:
And AFTER Halloween night I spent the next few days baking the pumpkin seeds and turning our jack-o-lanterns into pumpkin puree to bake with. Baked pumpkin seeds were first. I found the pumpkin seed recipe last year and we loved them just as much again. Click HERE for the recipe.
Puree was next. We had so much pumpkin that I had to do the puree in three batches. And with lots of little interruptions it took quite a while. But know we have at least 20 cups of puree. It's a good thing we like pumpkin! So far I've made pumpkin pancakes, froze cubes for baby food, pumpkin bread, and pumpkin chocolate chip bread. Pumpkin pie is next. YUM!
Having Amanda living here she asked early on if she could come trick-or-treating with us. We decided we should do a theme for all of our costumes. Claire wanted to be a princess so we slotted Anson to be a dragon, Amanda the knight (or dragon slayer/tamer), and Blake and I as King and Queen.
I always try to spend as little $$ as possible on costumes and I really don't like those expensive & flimsy packaged ones so the hunt was on. I found Anson's costume first for $12 and decided I couldn't make it for less than that and it was reasonable. That first purchase was the most expensive part. Claire had a fancy Easter dress I figured we could use, and I still have some old prom dresses - which I still fit into! So we'd just have to add on to those dresses to make them look royal. I started asking around for costume pieces from Blake's and my mom. My mom had Renaissance costumes from her step-sons in the attic which we used for Blake's costume AND she had REAL CHAIN MAIL that Amanda was excited to wear. That stuff was HEAVY!!! She didn't have any royal capes, but did have leftover fabric.
Now, I'm not a seamstress by any stretch of the imagination. I barely can sew a straight line. But I figured capes for all three of us couldn't be too bad. I looked online for some examples and was encouraged. Each would be one piece of fabric with straight lines. Thanks to some (ok, lots of) help & encouragement from my mother-in-law and her sewing machine & supplies I was able to make our capes. My mantra was, "It's only a costume. It's fine." Decorating them was fun. Claire loved putting the glitter on her and my capes and did a great job. Amanda's knight cover took a little more doing but this amateur still got hers done and didn't have to buy a thing.
And then when we found out Christy would be here for Halloween we decided she needed to join the group costume. She was a court jester and was able to make her costume out of things she already owned. Wohoo!
Of all 6 costumes we only bought Anson's costume, gold clasps for the capes, jewel stickers, gold decorative ribbon, and crowns.
Here's our group photos:
And AFTER Halloween night I spent the next few days baking the pumpkin seeds and turning our jack-o-lanterns into pumpkin puree to bake with. Baked pumpkin seeds were first. I found the pumpkin seed recipe last year and we loved them just as much again. Click HERE for the recipe.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Auntie Time
My sister came to visit us for a good long trip. (Thanks to her hubby & family for making that happen!) It's been nothing short of wonderful to have her here. We've been doing a lot of the ordinary but having her here has made it feel like special time. Anson and Auntie got to meet for the first time, and after crying the first time she babysat has really bonded and loves her. Claire has had lots of play time and attention. I'm sure we'll all feel the void once she goes back home to Virginia. But in the meantime we're loving her!
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