- my iParenting
- quick clicks
- article archive
- expert q & a
- community & groups
- research baby names
- prepare a birth plan
- content channels
- ip channel rss feeds
- read birth stories
- read parenting stories
- recommended books
- e-newsletters
- safety recalls
- ip diaries
- ip store
- mom of the month
- dad of the month
- editor's letter
- letters to the editor
From Our Sponsors
- e-newsletters
- Sign up to receive our free weekly e-newsletters
- award-winning products
The iParenting Media Awards program helps parents find the best products for their families.
Airing out Your Wallet
Financial Spring Cleaning
By Teri Brown
Neal Frankle, certified financial planner and author of Why Smart People Lose a Fortune: 5 Steps to Restoring Your Wealth and Sanity (Just Write, 2004), says the price of neglecting to organize your finances is too high. "Most people I know are less than satisfied with their finances," Frankle says. "They spend too much money shopping for things they may not need. They always seem to be a few dollars short at the end of the month, or maybe the credit card bill balance keeps climbing every month."
Frankle says most people understand that if they spend too much, have credit card bills and make lousy investments, they may never be able to put anything away for their future or for their children. He says people should not wait to deal with these issues.
Frankle offers the following tips to help you spring clean your finances:
- Take a look at your spending. Keep a detailed list of everything you buy for a week. You'll probably find easy ways to trim your budget. For example, that $4 you spend every day for coffee and a muffin adds up to a princely sum of $80 every month. On a yearly basis, that comes to $800. Over 20 years, that's more than $36,000! In other words, you could easily make your car insurance payment with the money you save by not having that coffee and muffin every day.
- Get everyone in the family to keep a detailed inventory of everything they spend for a week, and have fun with this. Have family contests. See who can think up the most creative way to save money every week.
- With the money you save fromthe first two tips, pay down those credit card bills ASAP. Discuss with everyone the importance of what you are doing and how these steps will save the family a fortune in interest payments and why that's important.