Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Do You Use the Cash Envelope System?

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Set your budget. Pull out cash each month. Separate it into envelopes. Spend only cash, according to the set amount allotted to each envelope category. When it’s gone, it’s gone. Voila, you’ve stayed within your budget. It’s an awesome budgeting strategy. Matt and I love the idea behind the Cash Envelope System. Great as it is, I have to admit, we are cash envelope rebels.

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Is it possible to have a well managed household, avoid credit card debt, and stay within your budget even without putting cash into envelopes each month? I’m happy to share that it is very possible. It takes discipline, for sure, but a cash-only policy is not the only way to have a well managed budget.

Let me stop here to say that if you are new to budgeting and a cash envelope system is helping you get and stay on track – you keep at it!  Do what works for you! But if it’s not working for you, or if the idea of pulling out cash, dividing it into envelopes, and paying with cash everywhere you go is preventing you from budgeting wisely – allow me to introduce the lovely Online Envelope Budgeting system from BudgetFocus.

Seeing this online envelope option on the BudgetFocus website is what really pushed me over the edge to love what they offer. They agree that assigning a dollar amount to each spending category each month is the way to go. But they also understand that cash isn’t always a convenient option. Sometimes swiping a card at the grocery store saves time. Paying for gas outside at the pump instead of heading inside to pay with cash is super helpful when you have little ones in the car (or when it’s freezing outside). Shopping online can save both time and money – but you can’t use cash when you do this.

So how can we use the envelope system without cash? Once you have an account set up at BudgetFocus, you simply input your dollar amount into each “Envelope.” As you spend from each envelope, you transfer that money to keep track of where you are for the month. It is so easy!!

budget focus envelopes

I give a huge thumbs up to BudgetFocus for creating this simple online tool for all of us. This way, we create a workable budget. We set up envelopes. We keep track of spending. We transfer money from one envelope to another as we spend. We stay on track, we don’t overspend, we save time and effort, and we are in control of our money!

Thank you, BudgetFocus, for keeping this process simple and workable for us. Have you signed up for your 14 day free trial yet? I think you will love all BudgetFocus offers as much as I do.

So tell me – do you use a cash envelope system? Does that work for you?

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My Newlywed Budgeting Memories – And How BudgetFocus Can Be a Blessing To All

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It was our very first year of marriage. At the wise ages of 20 and 21, we began to navigate the world of doing whatever it was that married people did with their money. Seriously, I had no idea. I knew how to shop for clothes on the clearance racks, buy off-brand peanut butter, and write a check when the phone bill came. Neither of us were big spenders, and because of that, in my mind, we would be just fine when it came to finances. We would simply pay our bills, buy on sale, avoid going out to eat much, and live happily ever after.

Matt, on the other hand, has always enjoyed crunching numbers. He’s also always been good at seeing the big picture when it comes to money. I will always be grateful for the day a few weeks after our wedding that he called me into the living room so he could show me the budget he was putting together for us. We knew how much (how little rather) was coming in each month, so we needed to figure out how to make it stretch.

Now if it was up to me, we would have had about six line items in that budget:  Rent, Insurance, Gas, Food, Phone, Utilities

Oh it’s a good thing I married Matt. Hello, Laura? Ever heard of medical bills? Car tags? Gift giving? Trash service? A savings account, perhaps? Christmas gifts certainly weren’t on my radar. It was only September, after all. We only paid car tags once per year, so why add that to the budget? Our cars were running fine at that very moment, so why think about car repair money? And apparently, it never occurred to me that we would need money to purchase those great clothing bargains I’d find on the clearance racks. Big budget picture? I hadn’t a clue.

Matt, on the other hand, had a line item for everything and then some. A whole new world opened up to me on that 1994, first year of marriage, budget spread sheet of ours. Since we knew we needed to pay for car tags in November, we came up with a conservative guestimated total amount needed, divided by 12, then set that money aside each month so it would be available in November. In order to have money for Christmas gifts, we set aside a certain amount aside each month to be used for gifts. Just in case one of our cars was to break down, we set aside money each month in our budget for repairs. And on it went.

I thought Matt was a genius. He just thought it all made sense. And he thought I was cute for thinking he was a genius. Ah, newlyweds…

More than anything – even though we had very little income at the time – I appreciate that our budget gave me financial peace and security. The income was small, but we never had to worry about where the money would come from for expenses because we had broken everything down and put a name on it. We never spent money “just because we had it.” Nope, that money was allotted for something else – not for random spending.

This practice has proved itself to be very effective during our 19+ years of marriage. Having a line-item for each spending category really takes the pressure off knowing how the bills are going to be paid each month. It has meant that we’ve said no to many expenditures through the years in order to be disciplined and stick with the budget. It has showed us that God always takes care of us, no matter what the income level.

So let’s talk about budgets, financial security, and making it all happen easily. Seriously, budgeting can be fun – even if you aren’t a newlywed. :)

I’ve recently been introduced to BudgetFocus, an online budgeting site that takes all the difficulty away from budgeting. See there, over on my sidebar, how they are now my top sponsor? We’ll be working together, helping you get your budget on track, because that’s a major part of heavenly homemaking. I really love how BudgetFocus breaks everything down, creates line-items for everything, takes all the pressure off, and provides a simple way for you to manage your family’s household expenses.

ad3Truly, no matter how much or how little you have, you can prosper. Prospering doesn’t mean you’re rich and have everything you want (from a worldly perspective). Prospering means you can breathe easy, trust God to take care of you, and let your budget help take away financial stress. BudgetFocus is all set up to help you with this. I very much encourage you to give it a try.

I’ll be sharing more about BudgetFocus soon as we continue to work together to help you achieve financial peace. For today, I highly encourage you (whether you already have a budget set up or not) to head over to BudgetFocus and get all set up with their 14 day free trial. Signing up just takes a few seconds. They don’t ask you to give them a credit card or any other personal information. Simply let BudgetFocus help you walk through the basic steps to put together a workable budget.

Get started with your free trial.  Right away, you’ll be given a free eBook on How to Make a Spending Plan and Stick to it. Free trial, free eBook – you can’t go wrong!

Happy budgeting! (Seriously, it can be happy. You’re in charge of your money – it’s not in charge of you.)

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7 Tips for Saving Money When You Fly on Vacation

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This post is written by Craig Ford, writer at Money Help for Christians.

It’s definitely not too early to start planning your next family vacation, but the only danger is that it’s going to be really hard to trudge through the next few months of work before getting to kick back for an enjoyable summer vacation.

While I’m all for summer vacations, I have this little personal mission in life. I want to be the person who does the exact same thing as everyone else, but I want to do those things without paying the same price as others.

For example, if I’m going to be spending the night in a hotel, I want to have the room that costs $50 per night while the person in the next room is paying $129. It just makes vacationing more enjoyable knowing that I’m not spending a lot of money.

Today, I’ll pass along some of the things I’ve learned trying to master the art of cheap (and even free) travel.

7 Tips for Saving Money on Your Family Vacation by Air

1. Know your vacation style.  While I’m all for saving money on vacations, a vacation isn’t a vacation unless it is relaxing to you. In order to help you plan your vacation strategy, you need to know where you’re happy to cut corners and where you won’t skimp pennies. As an example, my wife and I have concluded that eating out, while a nice perk, doesn’t make the vacation for us. When we look back at vacations gone by, we rarely talk about what we ate. Thus, our strategy includes trying to minimize the cost of food on vacation. However, when we are able to get two hotel rooms (or a condo) for our family, we love having some space to ourselves.

2. Use opaque booking sites (like Priceline or Hotwire) for hotels. Both of these sites allow you to book a hotel by knowing the location and the style of hotel without initially knowing the actual name or exact hotel brand. In exchange for this lack of information, you can book hotels up to 50% off. Learn how to get the best price between Hotwire and Priceline.

3. Earn miles and points by getting credit card bonuses. If you have a decent credit score and avoid credit card debt, you can earn lots of mostly free travel by signing up for credit cards . Over the last year, my wife and I have each collected over 200,000 air miles, $1,000 worth of travel spending, and 2 roundtrips flights in the US – each. It took us 5 credit card applications to get all those points, rewards, and miles. Right now you can even get 100,000 miles for a British Airways Visa. If you’re not familiar with the concept of getting mostly free travel, you can get more information from the Travel Free Coach (yes, that’s me!).

4. Be flexible.  If you are flexible and willing to go almost anywhere, you can check out AirfareWatchDog.com. All you need to do is enter your home city, and this website will show you the prices to a bunch of possible destinations. Also, if you subscribe to airline emails, you’ll find some great last minute fares to some really nice destinations.

5. Think about meal times when flying.  You might laugh at this, unless you have a large(r) family. If you’re going to fly out at 1 p.m., there’s a good chance you’ll need to pick up something for lunch at the airport. Even a small meal can easily run a family $30-$50. I used to recommend that people take a lunch with them, but when you’re trying to get yourself and three kids through security, you need all the open hands you can get. Instead, find flight times that avoid mealtimes.

6. Book early or book late.  The best deals can often be found 3-6 months in advance or less than 3 weeks in advance. In my case, I’d rather know we have everything booked because I’d get anxious a few weeks before if we still didn’t have all the booking in place. If you book through Southwest you can always change your flights without an extra cost.

7. Capitalize on the extra bonuses. Be sure to book your vacation on a cash back website like Ebates  to get a few extra percentages cash back on your travel. Additionally, be sure you have the best miles credit card too so you can get bonus miles towards your next trip.

8. Plan for baggage – The cost of baggage for a family vacation can easily add up to several hundred dollars. The two best ways around the cost of baggage (short of only taking carry-ons) is booking on Southwest Airlines (no baggage fees) or having an airline branded credit card that allows free baggage. As an example, the Delta American Express lets you check bags for free. 

What do you do to save money when you fly on your family vacations?

Be sure to visit Money Help for Christians where Craig promotes a frugal, simple, debt-free, and generous lifestyle so Christians can faithfully maximize their resources by putting them at the disposal of God’s Kingdom.

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3 Reasons to Kiss the Joneses Goodbye

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This post is written by Craig Ford, writer at Money Help for Christians.

With their 2.7 kids waving to everyone from the front door of their perfectly manicured lawn, we sometimes idealize the Joneses next door.

But if you had a chance to peek into the Jones’s window, you’d find there are unpaid bills in every corner. Sure, they’ve got a lot of stuff, but they just don’t own any of it. There’s the constant pressure to buy the newest and latest products. The Joneses would barely make it if they made $30,000 per year or $130,000. They rush to work. They rush to the mall. And others follow suit.

The Joneses pay the price for it, and we will too – if we try to keep up with them. 

Pressure. Depression. Arguments. Stress. Unrealized expectations. Disappointments.

That’s why our family has kissed the Joneses goodbye. We’re not going to conform to the rampant pressure to earn more and buy more. Instead, I’d suggest that Christians should embrace a simple life where they live on less than they make.

The Benefits of Simple Living and Living Below Your Income

You are not dependent on a larger income.

When making big decisions, my wife and I often remind each other not to allow money to dictate our calling. As an example, we decided to work as missionaries before we knew what missionaries got paid. Yes, there are times when it is necessary to alter a course because of a money concern, but by living simply, money has less influence on our life decisions.

Some people feel ‘stuck’ in high income jobs because they can barely keep up with all the expenses already. The idea of following a calling and doing something that pays less is virtually impossible because they are dependent on that large income to support their lifestyle. As a result, they usually have to do a lot of things they don’t like to do because they can’t risk doing anything that might threaten their income.

Think of the possibilities that would open up if you learned to live off $30,000 – $55,000 per year regardless of your income. That means almost any profession is a possibility because of your lifestyle choice.

As an example, when a wife (or husband) is able to stay home, it is often because the family has learned how to afford living on one income, not by learning how to make more money. Many ministry-related occupations (missionaries, preachers, children’s home supervisors, Christian school teachers) are staffed by people who have embraced some form of simple living.

You have funds available to clean up any past financial mistakes.

None of us has a perfect financial past. However, those mistakes can be undone faster when you simplify your lifestyle.

As the gap between what you earn and what you spend gets wider, you will have more money to decide how it should be spent. The family making $60,000 but living off of $40,000 will get out of debt faster than the family making $60,000 but living off $59,999.

For many people, their fixed expenses chew up every last dollar. Get control of your spending so can have the ability to choose how you spend your money.

You’ll be able to actively serve people by giving to ministries, individuals, and charities.

This is the most exciting benefit.

First of all, it honors God. Secondly, it is an extremely satisfying way to use your resources.

Imagine a life with no debt, adequate savings, a plan for your future, and resources to help others. Wouldn’t life be a little more satisfying if you were spending your time finding the best children’s home to support instead of trying to find the credit card with the best balance transfer interest rate? Wouldn’t you make a greater contribution if you spent your money helping fund short term mission trips instead of paying credit card interest?

Simple living is a much healthier alternative to trying to keep up with the Joneses. Are you ready to pucker up and kiss the Joneses goodbye?

Craig has just finished writing an eBook called Transforming Your Financial Diet:  7 Steps to Simple Living and Generous Giving. The book is only on sale until March 9th.  As a special thank you to Heavenly Homemakers readers you can get 15% off. At checkout enter the coupon code “homemakers”. 

To learn more or get your copy, click here.

Be sure to visit Money Help for Christians where Craig promotes a frugal, simple, debt-free, and generous lifestyle so Christians can faithfully maximize their resources by putting them at the disposal of God’s Kingdom.

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

3 Effective Strategies to Help You Pay Off Credit Card Debt

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This post is written by Craig Ford, writer at Money Help for Christians.

The average American family has too much credit card debt. According to results posted by Visual Economics, the average American family makes $43,000 per year and owes $2,200 in credit card debt. Since not everyone even has credit card debt, that means those who do typically have debts in excess of a couple thousand dollars.

If you are currently working on getting out of credit card debt, here are three effective strategies to consider. 

#1. Pay Off Highest Interest Debts First

This is the oldest approach to debt repayment. It is, in fact, the approach that makes the most mathematical sense. Simply make a list of all your debts, and then start to pay off the debts that cost you the most (determined by interest rates).

Thus, you would pay off the 17% Capital One card before the 15% American Express card. Last of all, you’d pay off the 10% credit union card.

In the long run, this method saves you the most money, and theoretically, helps you get out of debt the fastest. But life and debt repayment are about a lot more than money. However, when you look closely at credit card consolidation and balance transfers, you realize that math is not the heart of the debt issue. 

#2. The Debt Snowball

If you’ve heard of the debt snowball, it is likely because Dave Ramsey promotes the debt snowball.

With the debt snowball, you list your debt by amount owing instead of by interest rates.

Imagine you owed $9,000 on a Capital One card, $5,000 on an American Express account, and $2,000 on a card from your credit union.

In this case, you would pay off your cards in the following order – credit union, American Express, and Capital One. You would continue to make minimum payments on all the other debts until you pay off one debt. You would then shift your focus to the next debt. 

One of the biggest advantages to the debt snowball is that it provides the quickest emotional pay off. Instead of waiting until you pay off $9,000 in debt (as you would with the highest interest), you get to do the happy dance after paying off the $2,000 credit union bill. That emotional energy will fuel your continued fight out of debt.

If you are interested in the debt snowball, you might check out this free debt snowball spreadsheet.

#3. Emotional Debts are the First to Go

The fact is sometimes we make poor choices. Choices that haunt us. Let’s say you once helped buy a $1,000 stereo for an old boyfriend. That relationship never worked out, but you still have that $1,000 credit card debt. Imagine how good it would feel to finally pay off that debt and move on. 

This debt repayment strategy encourages you to list your debt in order of how passionate you are to pay them off. Perhaps one credit card company has been especially rude in their interactions. Put them first, and get them out of your life. 

Again, this is a strategy that relies on emotions more than math.

Which is the best strategy?

The answer completely depends on your temperament. 

I, for example, could effectively use #1 and #3 in conjunction. The reason? I hate paying interest to banks so the debt with the highest interest rate would also be the one with the most emotional pay off attached to it. 

Yet, there is no denying that many, many people are following the debt snowball with amazing results. Either way, if you have credit card debt, be sure you have a game plan or steps to get out of debt and work aggressively towards whatever strategy you adopt.

What strategy do you use / do you recommend to help people get out of debt?

 Be sure to visit Money Help for Christians where Craig promotes a frugal, simple, debt-free, and generous lifestyle so Christians can faithfully maximize their resources by putting them at the disposal of God’s Kingdom.

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

How to Find Legitimate Work From Home Opportunities

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

This post is written by Craig Ford, writer at Money Help for Christians.

As part of your 2011 New Years resolutions, many of you are looking for legitimate ways to increase your income by working at home. For some of you, an extra few hundred dollars a month will give your budget some much needed breathing room. Others of you might want to supplement several thousand dollars a month by working from home. The extra income might be needed to help you get out of credit card debt. Regardless, this post focuses on offering specific suggestions for mothers who have decided to earn some extra income in 2011. 

But this post is not just for ordinary mothers. It is for those who want to have their cake and eat it, too (without gaining any weight). Since kids come first, you need a job that will fit around your schedule, not a job that is going to compete with your family. The jobs I’ll suggest in this post will allow you to:

  1. Work from home. 
  2. Have a flexible schedule.

Red Flags When Looking For Extra Income

  • Avoid using Google as a starting place.  Yes, of course, you will eventually need to do some research online to get information about a work opportunity, but I highly recommend starting with personal contacts and people you already trust online. A lot of people get online and type “how to make money at home” or “make money online”. The problem is that there is no Google quality police. Generally speaking, she with the most links to her website gets the top position in Google. If I have a product that is a scam, I can easily work for links or buy links and get a top ranking in Google.
  • Avoid anything that requires you to put money down or buy a ‘secret’ starter pack. Yes, many legitimate home business will require you to purchase inventory. However, if you are being forced to buy more than you want ($500 minimum start up package), or you’re not sure what you get for your money, avoid that business “opportunity”.
  • Avoid pyramid schemes.  A pyramid or multi-level marketing business is one where others make money by teaching you how to make money. There is a lot of hype around these type of businesses because in many ways the hype is the business. Many of these businesses offer little of actual value, but instead there is only a smoke screen of actual business transactions. As long as people are referring others the business makes a profit, not necessarily when they are actually selling the product.

(Laura’s Note!!  Several of you have pointed out that not all multi-level marketing businesses are schemes. You are absolutely right!! I was involved in selling Stampin’ Up! products for several years when my kids were babies and that certainly wasn’t a scheme…and it falls right into this category. Please accept my apologies for any frustration the above paragraph may have caused. The point is to avoid SCHEMES…not to avoid all businesses of  this nature.)

Tips for Finding the Right Side Business

Personally, I’m a big fan of teaching people to turn a hobby into a side business. The reason is quite simple – you’ll do a better job and feel better when you make money doing something you love. Besides, what if you figure out how to make a lot of money doing something you hate to do? That doesn’t sound like any fun, does it?

A successful business will do one of the three things:

  1. Sell a product or a service that is better than what is currently being offered.
  2. Sell a product or a service that is cheaper than what is currently being offered.
  3. Sell a product or a service that is currently not available.

A List of 15 Legitimate Work From Home Jobs

In this list you’ll notice I favor online businesses. The reason? You usually have 100% control over your schedule. If your little baby is sick you can work late after the child is in bed. Furthermore, I believe most small business growth involves a hefty component of online business. 

  1. Blogging.   You can make money blogging as long as you select the right topic and are willing to work hard. Here’s my 7,500+ word free guide on how to make money blogging.
  2. Virtual Assistant – With the explosion of web based businesses and online entrepreneurs, there is a huge market right now for qualified virtual assistants. What is a virtual assistant (VA)? A VA is a person who does secretarial type work from home. You get an email of tasks and you complete them for a boss you may never meet. You can advertise your services on either Odesk or Elance.
  3. Baking – Sell cake, cookies, or any other goodies from home.
  4. Freelance Writing – I believe this is a great time to be a writer. Many online blogs and businesses are looking for good quality content. Guess how they get that content? They pay someone to write for them. I’ve spent some time over the last few years doing some freelance writing in my field (personal finance). My first paid writing offer was for $5 per article. On average (depending on the niche), you can make $20 per article to write online. Learn more about how to make money writing.
  5. Tax Filing Business from Home – For anyone who has tax experience and the proper licensing, you can set up your own home based business and generate clients whom you will never meet in person.
  6. Selling items on eBay – This style of business has been around for a long time, but it can still be profitable if you make wise purchasing decisions. Basically, you buy items at highly discounted prices and then sell them on eBay. You can either purchase products wholesale or just stock up on inventory when your favorite store has their next 85% off clearance sale.
  7. Tutoring – If you can fit tutoring into your schedule, you might be able to spend part of an evening helping a struggling student.
  8. Teach a Skill – Do you know how to play the piano? Do you know how to do a craft? Teaching people how to do the skills you already know is a great way to earn a few extra dollars.
  9. Mystery shopping – Yes, get paid to shop. You too can learn how to be a mystery shopper.
  10. Sell eBooks – If you have an online audience, you can produce your own products and earn some extra income selling eBooks. Of course, you would first need to build up an online audience through a blog or a similar medium.
  11. Sell Photos – Amateur photographers can start selling their pictures online. All you need to do is to go to a popular site that sells photos and get an idea of what type of pictures sell well. Use the popular pictures as a standard to help direct your own freelance photography business. Check out Shutterstock.com as an example of one of many websites that allow you to sell your photos online.
  12. Social Media Consultant – You mean, get paid to use Facebook and Twitter? Exactly. In November last year, one of the largest personal finance blogs, WiseBread, was looking to hire a social media consultant. Once again, Odesk and Elance would be a good place to start advertising your services. 
  13. Web graphics and logos designing – If you are artistic, you might want to invest in a Photoshop program that will allow you to do graphic designing for blogs and websites.
  14. Learn how to do something you normally pay for. – OK, this isn’t a specific idea, but if you pay for something, don’t you think others would too? At the very least, when you learn how to do something new, you don’t have to pay for that service any more. But then you can also build up a client list and provide that service for others.
  15. Sell plasma.  You’ll never find me doing this to make an extra buck, but my mother-in-law thinks this is the best way to earn some extra cash. As for me and my household, we’ll pursue other methods to supplement our income. 

Alright, you’re officially equipped to start chasing your dreams. Find an opportunity that interests you and fits your scheduling limitations. Chase it with your full energy and passion, then go, go, go.

What other suggestions do you have that can help someone else make an extra few dollars by working from home?

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 Be sure to visit Money Help for Christians where Craig promotes a frugal, simple, debt-free, and generous lifestyle so Christians can faithfully maximize their resources by putting them at the disposal of God’s Kingdom.

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Money Help for Christians at Heavenly Homemakers

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I am very excited to introduce a new feature beginning this year here at Heavenly Homemakers!

Craig and Jeri Ford are friends of ours, and are currently missionaries at Papua New Guinea. Craig writes at Money Help for Christians, sharing financial tips for believers. He brings the Bible and money together in Money Help for Christians. Craig promotes a frugal, simple, debt-free, and generous lifestyle so Christians can faithfully maximize their resources by putting them at the disposal of God’s Kingdom. Money Help for Christians is committed to providing relevant resources in order to assist Christians in this effort.

The first Thursday of each month, Craig will be guest posting here, sharing some of his great financial advice, particularly for women. I’m very excited to read what he has to say each month, and I think we’ll all learn a great deal from his expertise on this subject! The first of Craig’s posts is coming up this week! 

 

Here’s a brief introduction into what Craig will be sharing with us this time:
As part of your 2011 New Years resolutions, many of you are looking for legitimate ways to increase your income by working at home. For some of you, an extra few hundred dollars a month will give your budget some much needed breathing room. Others of you might want to supplement several thousand dollars a month by working from home. The extra income might be needed to help you get out of credit card debt. Regardless, this post focuses on offering specific suggestions for mothers who have decided to earn some extra income in 2011. 
Read more of Craig’s first post Thursday! 

We’d love to hear what financial topics you might be interested in learning and reading about. Be sure to leave a comment here or email me with any topic suggestions!
Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!