There is a saying that goes, “A wise woman always plans ahead.” I think that extends to both woman and man! While we pray for the best, we know that the storms will come. Be it a season of medical needs or layoffs, it behooves each household to plan ahead.
Do you want to be a wise household? Great! Planning is always the first step. Plan one afternoon to hire a babysitter and head for a neutral location where you can peacefully discuss your finances. Bring along the bills and plenty of scratch paper for number crunching and planning.
Break down your monthly expenses into two simple columns, “needs” and “wants”. The needs are those things that you MUST pay. (Mortgage or rent, electricity, etc). Wants are those things outside of that.
Once you’ve done that, it’s time to take each item and crunch it!
Looking at the home, ask yourselves:
-Do you really need the deluxe 100 million channel package at 1000 mps download speed? Can your current phone/internet contract be scaled back for something more reasonable?
-Do you need more than one vehicle?
-Do you or your spouse have a skill or talent that can be traded for a need or want?
-Do you have thrift stores or clothing swaps in your area to help keep up with your growing brood?
Looking at activities, ask yourselves:
-Is carpooling with other families to church, activities, or co-ops feasible in order to save money on gas?
-Of these activities, do you qualify for any scholarships? If not, you might ask if there is a way to volunteer in exchange for a discount.
-In cases where the child receives an allowance, consider having them pay all or part of the cost. This is a good learning experience on the power of money and choosing wisely.
Looking at food, ask yourselves if you can:
– Plan your menu ahead of time, and assemble foods in your refrigerator the night before to help avoid visiting the fast food drive through.
– Cook from scratch. It is always cheaper and healthier to cook from scratch than buying prepackaged foods. This will cause you to plan some extra cooking time into your day. Enlist your children as much as possible to help you.
– Make the healthiest possible choices based on the budget.
Looking at curriculum, see if you can:
-Find another family to swap or borrow curriculum.
-Buy or sell curriculum at used curriculum sales.
-Hunt down deals online. Ebay and the Facebook Market Place are good places to sell curriculum that you are no longer using, and, are unable to trade locally.
With taking a preemptive strike and tightening up your finances, you’ll pave the way for savings and be able to weather any storm that comes your way.
Check out the wonderful learning resources at Rainbow Resource Center!
