Married Money Archives — Page 6 of 31

Our Two Large Financial Goals for 2023

December 12, 2022 By MelissaB Leave a Comment

I’m a goal-setter. If I don’t set goals, I meander through life, often wasting time and money. Goal setting gives me direction and purpose. I have an objective to work toward, and since I dislike not achieving my goals, I work hard. My husband and I recently sat down to discuss our plans for next year, and we settled on two large financial goals for 2023.

We’re in a Good Financial Place Going Into 2023

Thankfully, we’re in a good financial place going into 2023. We have paid off all our debts in the last few years, except for my husband’s student loans and our house. We’re not paying anything on the student loans until the pandemic pause ends.

Since we’re not focused on getting out of debt, we can focus on enjoying life and strengthening our financial position.

Our Two Large Financial Goals for 2023

This year’s goals are ones we’ve never tackled throughout our 20-plus-year marriage.

Save/Plan for Domestic and International Travel

My husband and I love to travel, but we’ve struggled with low-paying jobs and raising kids while paying off debt for most of our marriage. Now, we’re more secure financially, the kids are older, and the debts paid off. So we’ve decided to prioritize travel while we’re still young enough to enjoy it.

Take a Trip to Maine

I have wanted to go to Maine since I was a teenager. The closest I got was Vermont. However, since our recent move to New York, we’re only eight hours away. Our goal this year is to travel to Maine for a vacation.

Save for a Trip to a European Country

We would also like to travel internationally. I have had the privilege of traveling to Canada, Ireland, China, Japan, and Switzerland. However, we haven’t traveled internationally for 20 years! So, it’s time to get back at it.

While we do plan to save for travel, we also plan to research travel hacking so we can go sooner than if we relied on savings alone.

Buy a New Car for (Mostly) Cash

We bought our Toyota Sienna 18 years ago. We financed almost the entire thing and paid it off in 4.5 years. We’re still driving that car, though, as you can imagine, we should replace it soon. (It currently has 238,000 miles on it.)

We bought my husband’s 2013 Subaru Outback used and again financed almost the entire thing. We paid it off in five years. It currently has 113,000 miles on it.

For the last few years, we’ve been saving to pay cash for a replacement for the Toyota Sienna. We currently have $20,000 saved. The goal is to buy the car with cash and, if necessary, a loan for no more than $10,000. If we can achieve this, it will be a huge financial victory because we’ve never been able to mostly pay for our vehicle in cash. Now, we need to decide what car we want.

Final Thoughts

Having financial goals, especially large financial goals for 2023 motivates us to stay on track financially. We tend to want to fund the goals instead of wasting money on small, unimportant items.

What are your financial goals for 2023?

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Our Favorite Small Ways to Save Money

Target Holiday Schedule 2023 And Store Hours

MelissaB

Melissa is a writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her homeschooling her kids, reading a good book, or cooking. She resides in New York, where she loves the natural beauty of the area.

www.momsplans.com/

A Tip for Your Food Bank Donation

September 19, 2022 By MelissaB Leave a Comment

We’re heading into the holiday season with the trio of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Not only does this time because more hectic for most people, but it’s also a time when people become more generous and think of donating to others. Of course, one excellent way to donate is to give non-perishable food, but consider this tip for your food bank donation.

What Is Food Insecurity?

Thanks to the pandemic and inflation, food insecurity has a strong presence in our country. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, “10.2 percent (13.5 million) U.S. households were food insecure at some time during 2021.”

Due to increased demand, many food banks around the country report that they do not have enough food to give to those in need so now is an excellent time to give to a food bank.

My Experience with Food Insecurity

I have only been food insecure once in my life. I was in 7^th grade, and my dad had been laid off 18 months prior. Despite actively searching for a job, he had trouble getting interviews, let alone a job.

Money in our family had always been tight, but after he was laid off, money became very tight. And then his unemployment checks ended. No job was on the horizon, and I remember the panic my mom felt. Feeding our family of four was a challenge.

A Tip for Your Food Bank Donation

That Thanksgiving, someone anonymously left us a basket filled with food. Inside was a large turkey and many canned goods. We were delighted to have that basket. For a few weeks, if we stretched the contents, we wouldn’t have to worry about where our next meal would come from.

During that time, we were always grateful for any food we received. However, most of the non-perishable food that people donated was unbranded. Of course, there is nothing wrong with off-label food, but we hadn’t eaten that way before, so the food wasn’t quite as good to my taste buds. It made me feel “poor.”

But in that Thanksgiving basket, I found an item that made me feel like life was back to normal. Inside the basket were several boxes of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, which had been my favorite before my dad had gotten laid off. I’d eaten that at least twice a week. While I was grateful for the unbranded mac & cheese we received from food banks, having the real thing, the branded mac & cheese I had loved, made me so happy! I don’t remember how the turkey tasted that year, but I still cherish how good the Kraft Macaroni & Cheese tasted.

Final Thoughts

If you choose to give to a food bank this year, I suggest that you not buy all generic foods. True, they are the most economical choice, and you can donate more food for less money when you buy off-brand. However, I promise you, some child is missing his old favorite food that is now out of financial reach for his family. So, if you buy some name-brand food to mix in with the generics, you will delight the children of the family who receive the food, I promise.

Read More

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The Irrationality of Seeking the Lowest Gas Price

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MelissaB

www.momsplans.com/

Is a Side Hustle Worth the Family Sacrifice?

June 20, 2022 By MelissaB 1 Comment

When our kids were young, my husband and I struggled financially. My husband was getting his Ph.D. and worked as a graduate assistant. I had just quit my full-time job because the cost of daycare in Chicago for two kids under two plus after-school care for our oldest would cost me as much as I was taking home each week. We survived for three years like this until my husband graduated and started working a regular job and a side hustle. I also worked a part-time job from home. Now that we’re 10 years removed from that situation, we recently discussed if a side hustle is worth the family sacrifice.

Some Times You Have No Choice

I want to acknowledge that sometimes, you have no choice. Sometimes you have to work as much as you can to cover rent, buy groceries, and care for your family. For my husband and I, the first few years after he graduated were like this. We were in debt because we had lived off his graduate assistantship and student loans those last three years, and we needed side hustles to try to get out of the hole we were in. However, we should have set a limit for how long we would work our side hustles.

Dave Ramsey’s Influence

Fifteen years ago, I loved listening to Dave Ramsey, and I bought into the idea that we should “live like no one else so later we can live like no one else.” I accepted the sacrifice that side hustles required because I was sure that if we worked hard, we’d end up on the other side, able to check off the baby steps.

Is A Side Hustle Worth the Family Sacrifice?

We are now at the point where we’ve completed baby steps 1, 2, and are on baby step 3. However, we’re also at the point where our kids are now 18, 13.5, and 12. We lost a lot of our kids’ lives to side hustles.

Is a side hustle worth the family sacrifice? As a parent with older children, I can answer for us, it was not worth it.

What We Sacrificed for the Side Hustle

Side hustles have a dark side that most people don’t talk about. For us, these were the major drawbacks:

We Were Exhausted

After my husband got home from his regular job and side hustle, I would start my work after being with the kids all day. I would often work until midnight and get up at 5 or 6 a.m. That was not enough sleep.

My husband and I were both exhausted all the time.

We Were Grouchy

Because we were working so hard and exhausted, we were also grouchy. Raising young children can be challenging under the best circumstances, but when you’re exhausted and grouchy, it’s not good for anyone.

Final Thoughts

Is a side hustle worth the family sacrifice? For us, the answer was no. Rather than following Dave Ramsey’s advice to hustle until you’re completely out of debt, we should have set a limited time frame for our side hustle. We hustled for far too long, and I’m sorry we missed out on some opportunities to spend enjoyable time with our kids when they were little because of that.

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4 Side Hustles for Teachers

What is Rat Race Rebellion?

MelissaB