I started a twitter account (@ntheblack) for my Money Coaching business last fall but didn't do much with it. Until recently I read the book, Crush It which talks about social media. So last week I started tweeting and following people.
Along with getting more traffic for my website, I have also discovered many other websites that are of interest to me and little tips and ideas in the tweets from other people.
Like everything else, it may seem intimidating at first but the more you play around with it the easier it will get.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Wealth Watchers book
Last night I read Wealth Watchers which I saw when I stopped at the library yesterday. It was a quick read.
It was written by Alice Wood. The book uses similar concepts as Weight Watchers does for losing weight. Instead of counting points of what you eat, you keep track of how much money you spend. You figure compared to how much you have coming in each month, how much you can spend each day to keep in your budget.
She came up with the concept after suffering a brain injury and not being able to keep track of her financial life. While recovering she also became overweight and joined Weight Watchers. While going through Weight Watchers she came up with the idea of Wealth Watchers.
It has basic financial information but is a good resource if you need assistance keep track of your money. The 2nd half of the book consists of blank journal pages to keep track of your expenses.
It was written by Alice Wood. The book uses similar concepts as Weight Watchers does for losing weight. Instead of counting points of what you eat, you keep track of how much money you spend. You figure compared to how much you have coming in each month, how much you can spend each day to keep in your budget.
She came up with the concept after suffering a brain injury and not being able to keep track of her financial life. While recovering she also became overweight and joined Weight Watchers. While going through Weight Watchers she came up with the idea of Wealth Watchers.
It has basic financial information but is a good resource if you need assistance keep track of your money. The 2nd half of the book consists of blank journal pages to keep track of your expenses.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Money Saving Balloon Bouquets
One way to save money on Mylar balloons is to check out the dollar stores. I got a balloon from my parents for my birthday and it lasted over a month.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Saving at CVS
I have posted before about the great savings you can find at CVS and Walgreens.
At CVS you can sign up for a free Extra Care card for discounts on certain products. Also each week certain products you get Extra Care Bucks (coupons you can use on a future purchase). In many cases it is the amount of the item, so if you do use the ECB you end up getting the first item free.
This week I got almost $50 worth of merchandise for a final price of $20.
Pepsi products (12 packs) are on sale for 4/$11 (reg $5.29 each) But if you buy 4 you get $2 ECB making it 4/$9 or $2.25 each
Perfect 10 hair color was on sale for $10 (reg $12). if you bought at least $15 of certain products you got $10 ECB. Plus there was a $5 coupon for Perfect 10 in Sunday's paper. So regular price for 2 was $24, with $5 coupon and $5 ECB final price is $10 for both of them.
At CVS you can sign up for a free Extra Care card for discounts on certain products. Also each week certain products you get Extra Care Bucks (coupons you can use on a future purchase). In many cases it is the amount of the item, so if you do use the ECB you end up getting the first item free.
This week I got almost $50 worth of merchandise for a final price of $20.
Pepsi products (12 packs) are on sale for 4/$11 (reg $5.29 each) But if you buy 4 you get $2 ECB making it 4/$9 or $2.25 each
Perfect 10 hair color was on sale for $10 (reg $12). if you bought at least $15 of certain products you got $10 ECB. Plus there was a $5 coupon for Perfect 10 in Sunday's paper. So regular price for 2 was $24, with $5 coupon and $5 ECB final price is $10 for both of them.
Monday, February 8, 2010
The Power of Focus
The following was taken from The Success Principles, by Jack Canfield.
The Power of Focus
As you commit to becoming debt free and saving more, you'll encounter an almost miraculous force working in your life. As you change your focus from spending and consuming to enjoying the things you already have and putting money aside, you'll progress at an almost unexplainable rate.
Even if you don't believe you'll survive every month, once you commit to a debt-reduction and savings plan, you'll be surprised at your ability to manage and arrive at your goal faster than you had planned.
You may go through a profound transformation. You'll see your values and priorities change. Suddenly, you'll measure your success in terms of debts paid off rather than goods purchased. And as your investment portforlio grows, you'll begin to weigh all purchases against your goal to be financially secure and debt free.
Regardless of where you are in life - even if you're in what appears to be a hopeless situation - sta the course and allow this mirale to accelerate you to your goal.
The Power of Focus
As you commit to becoming debt free and saving more, you'll encounter an almost miraculous force working in your life. As you change your focus from spending and consuming to enjoying the things you already have and putting money aside, you'll progress at an almost unexplainable rate.
Even if you don't believe you'll survive every month, once you commit to a debt-reduction and savings plan, you'll be surprised at your ability to manage and arrive at your goal faster than you had planned.
You may go through a profound transformation. You'll see your values and priorities change. Suddenly, you'll measure your success in terms of debts paid off rather than goods purchased. And as your investment portforlio grows, you'll begin to weigh all purchases against your goal to be financially secure and debt free.
Regardless of where you are in life - even if you're in what appears to be a hopeless situation - sta the course and allow this mirale to accelerate you to your goal.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Ideas on Allowances
The Question of Allowance
Since I don’t have kids I haven’t had to deal with this. But I want to offer some other perspectives on how to handle allowance.
From “Money doesn’t grow on Trees” (A Parent’s Guide to Raising Financially Responsible Children) by Neale S. Godfrey.
How to Determine the Amount of the Allowance
Once you’ve decided that an allowance is a useful teaching tool and that your child – even one as young as three-is ready to begin “earning and learning”, then you need to formulate a starting “salary”.
For her children she started them on an allowance whey they were three and six years old. Using an easy rule of thumb: their allowance was the same number of dollars as their age.
There are three basic areas of money management we will be working on in this book. The S.O.S. system, Briefly they are:
1. Savings. Some portion of the allowance needs to be allotted for both short-term savings, like a special toy or out, and long-term savings, such as for a bicycle or college fund.
2. Offerings. This is a small amount of money set aside for donations to charity or to the less fortunate. However small the sum, it is a valuable way for parent to teach personal values through money by showing the child how to share her good fortune.
3. Spending. Depending on the budge you develop with your child, part of her spending money may go to cover specific expenses. It can range for lunch money or bus fare for young ones, to total management of a year’s clothing budget for more sophisticated teenagers. At any age, however, there needs to be some money that is the child’s discretionary fund to spend as he wishes(with whatever limitations you set)
Think about your own financial priorities. What percentage of your budget goes to saving, to charity, and to spending? Would you want your child’s priorities to be similar to or different from yours? For example, would you like to see your offspring save more (percentagewise) than you are able to? If areas such as saving and charitable giving are important to you, then you may need to increase the amount of the allowance for the youngster to accomplish this.
Share with your children all ways money can work positively: it works to cover immediate expenses, like lunch money, it works to build for the future, like saving for college and it can be shared with others to help those truly in need.
The Four-Jar Budget System
This is how it works.
First, an allowance is “work for pay”. You’ll set up a series of chores (very simple ones for the youngest, more responsibility for older kids).
Second, allowance is paid once a week, at a specified time (ritual is important). Make sure that you have the money on hand, in small denominations.
Third, the money is divided among these four jars (or other type of container or envelop)
• Jar one is for Charity (family members get to pick their own)
• Jar two is Quick Cash. Your child can spend this any way he wants (subject to family rules).
• Jar three is Medium-Term Savings, which means anything that costs more than one week’s worth of Quick Cash.
• Jar four is Long-Term Savings. For a child, this generally means a college fund.
Now for a few details.
Charity comes first. It’s 10 percent off the top, so make sure your first allowance structure is set up in such a way that you can take 10 percent and divide the rest by three. Three dollars for a three-year old works perfectly for this. Thirty cents for charity leaves ninety cents for each of the other three jars.
Quick Cash can go for whatever the child wants to spend it on…within the limits of your family rules. If you don’t allow bubble gum or comic books, then the Quick Cash can’t be spent on those things.
Make a Medium-Term Savings plant with your child. Go window-shopping at your local toy store or dollar store or on the Internet. You’re teaching deferred gratification, but you’re also teaching gratification.
Long-Term Savings gives a child a sense of investment in his own future. As soon as you move Long-Term Savings from a jar into a bank savings account and eventually into investments, that becomes more than just an exercise-it’s real life.
Chores and Allowance
“Work for pay” is defined as chores that are over and above what is naturally expected of the child. Your child must know that we’re a family, we’re all citizens of this household, and some chores are “Citizen of the Household” chores. You’re expected to chip in and do them.
Work for Pay
“Work for pay” means exactly that. Your children are expected to do all of their chores, or else no allowance that week. And there’s no prorating, no negotiating, no “I did half my chores, can’t I get half my allowance?” You’ll find that once a kid misses her chores for one week and loses her allowance, it’s not likely to happen again – especially if you’re not buying a couple of “ I want, I wants” every time you go to the supermarket.
Dave Ramsey at Daveramsey.com prefers to call it commission instead of allowance. The concept of paying and saving are basically the same as the one above.
One product he sells is Financial Peace University which consists of an instruction manual, Commissions worksheet, envelope system, audio CD, etc.
Since I don’t have kids I haven’t had to deal with this. But I want to offer some other perspectives on how to handle allowance.
From “Money doesn’t grow on Trees” (A Parent’s Guide to Raising Financially Responsible Children) by Neale S. Godfrey.
How to Determine the Amount of the Allowance
Once you’ve decided that an allowance is a useful teaching tool and that your child – even one as young as three-is ready to begin “earning and learning”, then you need to formulate a starting “salary”.
For her children she started them on an allowance whey they were three and six years old. Using an easy rule of thumb: their allowance was the same number of dollars as their age.
There are three basic areas of money management we will be working on in this book. The S.O.S. system, Briefly they are:
1. Savings. Some portion of the allowance needs to be allotted for both short-term savings, like a special toy or out, and long-term savings, such as for a bicycle or college fund.
2. Offerings. This is a small amount of money set aside for donations to charity or to the less fortunate. However small the sum, it is a valuable way for parent to teach personal values through money by showing the child how to share her good fortune.
3. Spending. Depending on the budge you develop with your child, part of her spending money may go to cover specific expenses. It can range for lunch money or bus fare for young ones, to total management of a year’s clothing budget for more sophisticated teenagers. At any age, however, there needs to be some money that is the child’s discretionary fund to spend as he wishes(with whatever limitations you set)
Think about your own financial priorities. What percentage of your budget goes to saving, to charity, and to spending? Would you want your child’s priorities to be similar to or different from yours? For example, would you like to see your offspring save more (percentagewise) than you are able to? If areas such as saving and charitable giving are important to you, then you may need to increase the amount of the allowance for the youngster to accomplish this.
Share with your children all ways money can work positively: it works to cover immediate expenses, like lunch money, it works to build for the future, like saving for college and it can be shared with others to help those truly in need.
The Four-Jar Budget System
This is how it works.
First, an allowance is “work for pay”. You’ll set up a series of chores (very simple ones for the youngest, more responsibility for older kids).
Second, allowance is paid once a week, at a specified time (ritual is important). Make sure that you have the money on hand, in small denominations.
Third, the money is divided among these four jars (or other type of container or envelop)
• Jar one is for Charity (family members get to pick their own)
• Jar two is Quick Cash. Your child can spend this any way he wants (subject to family rules).
• Jar three is Medium-Term Savings, which means anything that costs more than one week’s worth of Quick Cash.
• Jar four is Long-Term Savings. For a child, this generally means a college fund.
Now for a few details.
Charity comes first. It’s 10 percent off the top, so make sure your first allowance structure is set up in such a way that you can take 10 percent and divide the rest by three. Three dollars for a three-year old works perfectly for this. Thirty cents for charity leaves ninety cents for each of the other three jars.
Quick Cash can go for whatever the child wants to spend it on…within the limits of your family rules. If you don’t allow bubble gum or comic books, then the Quick Cash can’t be spent on those things.
Make a Medium-Term Savings plant with your child. Go window-shopping at your local toy store or dollar store or on the Internet. You’re teaching deferred gratification, but you’re also teaching gratification.
Long-Term Savings gives a child a sense of investment in his own future. As soon as you move Long-Term Savings from a jar into a bank savings account and eventually into investments, that becomes more than just an exercise-it’s real life.
Chores and Allowance
“Work for pay” is defined as chores that are over and above what is naturally expected of the child. Your child must know that we’re a family, we’re all citizens of this household, and some chores are “Citizen of the Household” chores. You’re expected to chip in and do them.
Work for Pay
“Work for pay” means exactly that. Your children are expected to do all of their chores, or else no allowance that week. And there’s no prorating, no negotiating, no “I did half my chores, can’t I get half my allowance?” You’ll find that once a kid misses her chores for one week and loses her allowance, it’s not likely to happen again – especially if you’re not buying a couple of “ I want, I wants” every time you go to the supermarket.
Dave Ramsey at Daveramsey.com prefers to call it commission instead of allowance. The concept of paying and saving are basically the same as the one above.
One product he sells is Financial Peace University which consists of an instruction manual, Commissions worksheet, envelope system, audio CD, etc.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Unexpected Opportunities
This week I became a costume designer because of my friend, Meghann. I am participating in a group where we work each day to achieve our goals and priorities in life. One of my priorities was to spend more time doing hobbies, crafts. Since I bought my house 6 years ago I haven't made much time for the craft projects I used to do.
The other day Meghann sent out a request for sewing help. I knew she is planning a fundraising event at her business next week, so I thought it might be hemming or simple sewing project. When I replied she said they wanted a costume (preferably 2) shaped like a puzzle piece. First I was going to decline but then I decided to try to do it.
So I started thinking about it and that night I taped a few pages of newspaper together and started drawing out a pattern. The past two nights I have been working on it and am almost done with both costumes.
Then yesterday she sent an email saying that she wanted to hire me to make a costume for her business. (a coffee cup)
This is something I never would have thought of but I am having a great time trying to figure out how to make these patterns.
The other day Meghann sent out a request for sewing help. I knew she is planning a fundraising event at her business next week, so I thought it might be hemming or simple sewing project. When I replied she said they wanted a costume (preferably 2) shaped like a puzzle piece. First I was going to decline but then I decided to try to do it.
So I started thinking about it and that night I taped a few pages of newspaper together and started drawing out a pattern. The past two nights I have been working on it and am almost done with both costumes.
Then yesterday she sent an email saying that she wanted to hire me to make a costume for her business. (a coffee cup)
This is something I never would have thought of but I am having a great time trying to figure out how to make these patterns.
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