Payless is having a great Easter sale on kids shoes — starting at $9.99. You can maximize your savings two ways with a coupon for an extra 15% off you next in-store purchase or $10 off your $50 online purchase.
Click HERE to print your coupon. Both deals are good until April 4, 2010.
Is it bad to admit that I already daydream about retirement when my oldest child is still in elementary school and my youngest hasn’t even started yet? I haven’t figured out the details on how or where we’ll spend our golden years but I’m hoping it includes a beach chair, a ukulele for serenades, and endless chocolate-covered strawberries.
The best place to start planning for retirement is to know where you want to finish. Where would you like to retire? How much money do you think you’ll need?
Once you’ve figured out when you want to retire and how much you’ll need to save then you can count backwards. Using your estimates for the future should give you an idea of where you need to be in 10 years, 2 years, and now to reach your future financial goals.
Once you’ve figured out what you need to do, find a goal you can start with immediately and implement it into your day-to-day life. Maybe the first step is to cut out all trips to the drive thru out or maybe it’s as simple as tracking your expenses and trimming out another expense. Make realistic short-terms goals and keep your long-term goal in the forefront of your mind.
If you have a 401(K) plan then this is a great time of year to evaluate how aggressive your investing is and to increase your contributions when you get a raise.
Reward yourself along the way. As you begin to reach your mini-goals of paying off debt or stockpiling cash in your savings account, be sure to reward yourself as you reach your milestones. It feels good to pause and enjoy the vistas along a great hike before you reach your final destination. Stop and enjoy a moment before you keep climbing up the mountain. It will motivate you to keep going when you hit the rough spots along the way.
Goals are really just talk until you put them in writing. Be sure to put your plan in writing and keep it somewhere you can look at it frequently to keep yourself motivated.
Involve the kids, too. We recently sat down with our little ones and told them about parts of our financial plan for the next few years. Our reward will be a nice family trip next spring. We brainstormed as a family ways we could cut some things out of our budget. They actually suggested turning lights off when they leave a room and cutting out extras like eating out and movies. (What a motivated bunch of kids!)
Question: What age do you hope to retire?
Whether your bottom line has been hurt by the economy or not, chances are your financial future has been on your mind. Many people have made it a priority to get their personal finances back on track.
Today’s post about creating a family budget is the first in a series of several posts about making 2010 a great financial year for your family.
Experts recommend using the 70-20-10 rule to have a successful roadmap for spending. Here’s how they break down your monthly paycheck:
• Living expenses should consume 70 percent of your budget. This includes housing, food, utilities and transportation.
• Twenty percent should split three ways, with the first 10 percent going towards retirement. (See next week’s post for more information on planning for retirement.) The last 10 percent should be split in half, with 5 percent set aside for building up your emergency fund (which ideally covers your living expenses for three to six months) and the other 5 percent going towards a specific savings goal (like buying a new car or saving up for a down payment on a house.
• The final 10 percent of your budget should be allocated towards debt repayment. You begin by paying down the highest interest debts first. Once those debts are paid you add the additional money to lower interest debts and pay those off faster. If you’re lucky enough to not have debt, then you can use that final 10 percent to invest in interest bearing savings accounts, CDs, IRAs, etc. You should consult an accountant or financial advisor to make sure you’re choosing what is best for your financial situation.
Other tips for saving:
1. Keep time on your side. It can be fatal to rip open your 401K statement these days, but things are on the upswing and most people still have plenty of years before retirement to recover their losses.
2. Don’t touch your long-term savings to fix a short-term cash flow problem. It can be tempting to dive into your nest egg to put a band-aid on your current problem. Always try to find another solution first.
3. Budget in some fun. It’s unrealistic to think you’ll never go on another vacation or eat another meal out again. Budget in some fun extras and then you can enjoy them when you pull out your wallet to pay that night out on the town instead of feeling guilty.
4. Consult a pro. Sometimes you have to spend a little to save a lot. Call a professional financial planner and get their opinion about your strategy and goals. They may be able to offer you advice that could save you tons of money.
Question: What was the last thing you bought for yourself?
I don’t know about you, but I detest spending money on food. Don’t get me wrong, though — I love to eat.
The grocery store is one area where you can make or break your family budget. This week I offer additional tips for saving big on all the essentials without clipping coupons.
1. Keep the fridge clean. How often do you clean out your fridge? I bet the answer might scare some of us during a busy stretch (and when is life not busy?) but if you can keep a good inventory on what you have then food is less like to spoil. Throwing food away is the same as throwing money in the trash.
2. Use up your leftovers. I am the queen of reinventing food and sending back to my customers (i.e. my kids). I took leftover thinly sliced, breaded pork that we served several meals ago out of the freezer, topped it with spaghetti sauce and parmesan cheese and served up Pork Parmesan to my family. I got rave reviews from the same trio of girls who said, “I love your pork tenderloin but I’m so sick of eating it. Please don’t give us anymore!”
3. Freeze ‘em up. Utilize your freezer space not only with good deals, but by making freezer meals (look for more details about this in February when I guest blog for CouponGeek.com). You can freeze meals large enough for the whole family or in small, lunch-sized portions. It’s a great way to hide away leftovers for a few weeks and bring ‘em back for round two.
4. Make your own snack drawers. I keep ready to eat healthy snacks in one of my crisper drawers and the bottom drawer of my pantry. The kids always know where they can look for a snack and I only keep healthy snacks at their ready reach. I only buy items that are on sale, and it keeps their favorites in a natural rotation. They never tire of their favorites and I never pay full price for snacks.
5. Spend a buck to save lots of bucks later. I bought a large bag of clothes pins for a dollar at Target so we’d have no excuse for not properly storing and sealing food items. Stale chips or cereal are needless wastes of food, so be sure you package things up to keep them fresh for as long as possible.
Question: How much did you spend on your last trip to the grocery store?
Did you know that Proactive and other skin care products can be reimbursed from your flexible spending account?
(A flexible spending account is money that you ask your employer to set aside from your gross income each month that can be used to pay for non-covered medical expenses such as doctor’s office co-pays, prescriptions, etc.)
Wonder what else is on that list? Got a pile of cash set aside and ready to burn? If you over-estimate your flexible-spending withdrawals you could end up with a large sum of money at the end of the year. Unfortunately, this tax-saving program is a use-it or lose-it program, so if you don’t use it all up it’s like throwing money in the trash.
Here’s a few ideas on items that qualify as part of your flexible spending account.
· Sunscreen
· Acne treatment products
· Over-the-counter medicines
· Dental care
· Prescription eye glasses
· Band-aids
· Menstrual pain products
· Birth control
· Chiropractic care
· First-aid kits
· Hand sanitizer
· Laser eye surgery
· Transportation expenses to medical services
· Medicated lip products
· Childbirth classes
· Vision programs
Want a complete list? Call your health insurance or employer for a list, or check out this website, https://www.fsafeds.com/FSAFEDS/EligibleExpenses.asp.
Recent Comments