Family & Life Skills
3 Big Reasons I Pay My Kids to do Jobs (not chores) Around the House
Are you currently paying your kids to take care of certain jobs around the house? Or do you give your children a weekly allowance without requiring them to do anything to earn that money? A while back I had an idea. I was always buying things for my kids and I...
How I Manage My Spending Without Cash Envelopes
Do you use cash envelopes? Or do you know someone who does? Or maybe, like me, you’ve tried it and hated it! Cash envelopes are a really good tool for some people, but not me. I’m here to tell you about why I don’t like them and what I do instead to keep my finances...
Top 3 Reasons People Start Budgeting and then Quit
Did you ever start budgeting, just to end up too overwhelmed and then quit? Don’t feel bad if this is you, it’s so common! But that doesn’t have to be your story. When my husband and I were first married, we found ourselves quickly buried in debt. Budgeting helped us...
What’s Your Money Personality Type
I’ve always known that we all possess certain behaviors around money. But, I never knew someone had actually coined these into personality types until I started reading Money Harmony by Olivia Mellan and Sherry Christie. I’m always looking to learn new things to...
5 Simple Ways to Build up Your Rainy Day Fund
You may be thinking, why even have a rainy day fund? Well, have you ever heard of Murphy’s Law? If you haven't, it states: anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Let’s face it, the more you are unprepared for something, the more likely, it seems, it is to happen....
The Top 3 Expenses Parents Fail to Plan For
I see it time and time again with my friends, extended family, and even my own family in the past. As parents, sometimes we fail to plan for certain expenses and then, when those things sneak up on us, we scramble to find the money to pay or we end up moving money...
Tricks for Managing Online Distance Learning While Working from Home
Like many families, we’re facing uncertainty as we approach this new school year. Many schools across the country won’t be immediately reopening for in-person learning. Here in California, we’re gearing up for distance learning. If you had asked me back in the spring,...
10 Signs You May Be Having More Financial Struggles Than You’re Ready To Admit
I have to admit, years ago, there was a time in my life when I exhibited all 10 of these signs of financial struggles. It started right around the time my husband and I got married in 2006. We were spending, spending, spending - and we had no idea how bad of a...
3 Signs Your Family Needs a Morning Routine
How do your mornings feel? Do you wake up relaxed and ready to take on the day? No? I didn’t think so. Let’s get to the bottom of this. Have you ever asked yourself why? Why don’t your mornings feel good? Why don’t your mornings run smoothly? And why don’t you have...
Practical Steps for Creating Realistic Routines
We know that helping our kids develop realistic routines and good habits is high priority. But, knowing we should and actually setting a system in place are two completely different things. We want our kids to learn responsibility and accountability so that they can...