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Painter Mommy

Fun stuff in the Everyday Life of a Busy Mom & Entrepreneur

Managing your Family’s Finances

September 4, 2012 by Painter Mommy Leave a Comment

Managing your family finances is important and one of the best things you can do is to protect your family from future financial hardship.  Setting up a family budget may not be the most enjoyable task, but it can help to set goals and ensure that money is available during difficult times.

Create a budget

Creating a budget does not have to involve any elaborate tools, something as simple as an Excel spreadsheet can be used to assess how much money is coming in and where that money is going.  It may then be possible to re-direct some money towards a long term goal.

When thinking about a family budget it is a good idea to have a goal, whether it is the purchase of a new home or a family holiday.  This will be an incentive to save money regularly.

It is also important to separate out discretionary spending and items such as mortgage payments, utilities and car insurance that have to be paid.  This will give an idea of how much money is available each month for extras that are nice to have, but not essential.  Subdividing the discretionary spending can also help to focus attention on just how much is being spent.  People who do not keep track of their expenses are often surprised to find out how much they really spend on certain items.  Once you know where the money is going, you can set realistic monthly allocations for the different items.

 

Paying off debt

Paying off debt is important as if this is not done, not only can a lot of money be spent on interest payments, but there is also the possibility that debts could spiral out of control.  The minimum payment should at least be paid each month and, if the debt situation is serious, consider getting some professional help to get the debts under control.  Any debt counselor should be connected to agencies such as the National Foundation for Credit Counseling.

If possible a buffer should be established so that, if something unexpected happens, there is no need to go into debt.

Some experts on family finances suggest that a good way of controlling spending is to pay for items such as groceries, gas or pet supplies with cash as this forces an individual to recognize how much he or she is spending each month, and thus control their spending.

If there are problems with paying bills, then investigate if changing the billing cycle will help.  Spacing out the dates on which bills have to be paid can help with budgeting and most creditors will make such adjustments.

 

Umbrella Company

An umbrella company can help with family finances, especially if some members of the family are self-employed.  An umbrella company can handle much of the administration that is involved in running a single-person company.  The umbrella company will take care of taxes and other deductions and each month the freelancer will receive a payment, smoothing out payments and thus making it much easier to develop a family budget and financial plan.  Business expenses can also be claimed, such as travel, accommodation and meal costs.

 

Saving for Your Child’s Future Education

August 30, 2012 by Painter Mommy Leave a Comment

With a good education behind them, most people would agree that young people are better placed to find well-paid work, and a college education certainly adds value to any résumé. A good education is not something that can be achieved on the cheap, and most parents find it is a big help if they have made plans to save in good time, so that they have accumulated a decent fund by the time their child is ready for university or college.

Ways to save include, setting up a trust fund that will pay for college education. This attracts interest and normally matures at the point where a child reaches the age of majority. Some grandparents like to contribute to college funds and this can make a significant difference to the total saved. Certain investment firms and banks can often help with managing funds in such a way as to maximize their profitability.

Certificates of deposit and accounts with the best available interest rates are also useful savings mechanisms. For example, saving even a little bit on a regular basis will soon build into a respectable sum that will make a lot of difference to the amount that parents may need to borrow. There are a number of different types of college loans available, for example Discover Student Loans, and grants and scholarships can also help.

 

Learning about the Costs of Education

Young people are not always aware of how much education costs, which is a shame as they can learn a valuable lesson if they appreciate the extent of the expenditure necessary to see them through college. Once kids appreciate how much it takes to pay for tuition, room and board in public or private universities and colleges, it can make them fully realize the value of saving money.  It may also cause them to be more responsible about finding suitable part-time work so they can make a contribution. It will also help to make them more aware of how they are spending money whilst at college: that is a valuable message that parents should aim to communicate clearly.

 

College Finance

It’s certainly a myth that students shouldn’t do anything other than college work, or that it’s unreasonable to expect them to contribute anything at all in terms of finance for college. In many ways having an outside job can improve a student’s focus on academic work and it can certainly help them to appreciate the value of the education they are receiving.

Another false notion among some parents is that the better the school attended, the more opportunities will be opened up to their offspring after graduation. It is as if the colleges with the most expensive fees are going to automatically ‘open doors’. In fact, it’s the personality and drive of the individual that will make the difference to taking real advantage of employment opportunities, whether the student has attended a fancy private college or a state university.

All in all, parents who make sensible provision for a college fund at an early stage will find this pays welcome and important dividends for prospective college or university students.

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