The dog days of summer slowly yield to the most wonderful time of year for parents: back-to-school time. That’s right, we’re standing on the threshold of the 2009 – 2010 academic year. Certainly your kids are eager to jump back into the learning world; field trips, science fairs, and late nights of algebra homework are just around the corner!
Are you ready to jump into the back-to-school shopping frenzy? Sure, part of the frenzy is dealing with back-to-school sales and the droves of parents and their children racing through aisles, cutting in check-out lines, and clogging parking lots. The other part is the frenzy of funding this annual adventure.
How do you typically pay for back-to-school shopping? According to the National Retail Federation, the average family with students in grades Kindergarten through 12 is expected to spend $548.72 this year. That’s a pretty big outlay each year for new clothes and school supplies. If we put these purchases on credit cards, we’ll likely still be paying on them when the last report card comes home next spring!
The best way to plan for back-to-school shopping is using a non-monthly expense account. Take what you intend to spend each year and divide it by 12. If you plan to spend $600 on your children, that’s $50 each month you can set aside in a savings account. When back-to-school season kicks into high gear, you can simply pull those savings out in cash (yes, the green stuff) and never worry about breaking the budget or making monthly payments until your kids are in college!
Try using this concept for all sorts of other non-monthly expenses: vacations, insurance premiums, birthdays, property taxes, and Christmas. This is a surefire way to avoid the budget busting blues all year long.
Like this? Join the Lukas Coaching Reader's Group for weekly insight on your money, career, and business.
Showing posts with label summer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label summer. Show all posts
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Back to School Financial Frenzy
The dog days of summer slowly yield to the most wonderful time of year for parents: back-to-school time. That’s right, we’re standing on the threshold of the 2009 – 2010 academic year. Certainly your kids are eager to jump back into the learning world; field trips, science fairs, and late nights of algebra homework are just around the corner!
Are you ready to jump into the back-to-school shopping frenzy? Sure, part of the frenzy is dealing with back-to-school sales and the droves of parents and their children racing through aisles, cutting in check-out lines, and clogging parking lots. The other part is the frenzy of funding this annual adventure.
How do you typically pay for back-to-school shopping? According to the National Retail Federation, the average family with students in grades Kindergarten through 12 is expected to spend $548.72 this year. That’s a pretty big outlay each year for new clothes and school supplies. If we put these purchases on credit cards, we’ll likely still be paying on them when the last report card comes home next spring!
The best way to plan for back-to-school shopping is using a non-monthly expense account. Take what you intend to spend each year and divide it by 12. If you plan to spend $600 on your children, that’s $50 each month you can set aside in a savings account. When back-to-school season kicks into high gear, you can simply pull those savings out in cash (yes, the green stuff) and never worry about breaking the budget or making monthly payments until your kids are in college!
Try using this concept for all sorts of other non-monthly expenses: vacations, insurance premiums, birthdays, property taxes, and Christmas. This is a surefire way to avoid the budget busting blues all year long.
Like this? Join the Lukas Coaching Reader's Group for weekly insight on your money, career, and business.
Are you ready to jump into the back-to-school shopping frenzy? Sure, part of the frenzy is dealing with back-to-school sales and the droves of parents and their children racing through aisles, cutting in check-out lines, and clogging parking lots. The other part is the frenzy of funding this annual adventure.
How do you typically pay for back-to-school shopping? According to the National Retail Federation, the average family with students in grades Kindergarten through 12 is expected to spend $548.72 this year. That’s a pretty big outlay each year for new clothes and school supplies. If we put these purchases on credit cards, we’ll likely still be paying on them when the last report card comes home next spring!
The best way to plan for back-to-school shopping is using a non-monthly expense account. Take what you intend to spend each year and divide it by 12. If you plan to spend $600 on your children, that’s $50 each month you can set aside in a savings account. When back-to-school season kicks into high gear, you can simply pull those savings out in cash (yes, the green stuff) and never worry about breaking the budget or making monthly payments until your kids are in college!
Try using this concept for all sorts of other non-monthly expenses: vacations, insurance premiums, birthdays, property taxes, and Christmas. This is a surefire way to avoid the budget busting blues all year long.
Like this? Join the Lukas Coaching Reader's Group for weekly insight on your money, career, and business.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
A Nice Day for a White Wedding
The summer is upon us and the temperatures continue to rise. Welcome back to wedding season and all the spending that comes with it. We all know the folks footing the bill for a wedding these days are bearing an increasingly large financial burden. What of those who attend weddings as guests? Travel, hotel, clothing, and gift expenses add up fast. Wouldn’t everyone come out ahead if the happy couple just flew to Vegas and had Elvis marry them?
The average cost of a wedding these days is $20,398. If you figure that a typical wedding event lasts for about six hours – from ceremony through reception – that’s about $3,400 per hour! If you’re interested in discovering the cost of a typical wedding in your area, visit CostofWedding.com.
Think about the financial implications of being a guest at a wedding. How far do you have to travel? Will you fly? Are you in the wedding party? What will you spend on a gift? Is your presence present enough? Where will you stay? Are you paying for meals?
As with anything else, the best place to start is with a budget. As you learn of a couple’s pending nuptials a few months in advance of the wedding, begin preparing your plan by totaling your anticipated expenses. The costs of travel, lodging, gift, and food must be included. Take that total and divide the amount by the number of months remaining until the wedding. If you save that dollar amount each month, you’ll be in great shape to enjoy the ceremony, do the Macarena at the reception, and not have to drag the couple’s commemorative sachet bag of personalized M&Ms home along with a bulging credit card bill.
What if there isn’t as much advance notice? Then it’s decision time. We can either decide to spend a little extra on a gift because we choose not to attend or vice versa. Or we could plan to attend while keeping lodging, food, and gift costs to a minimum. On a tight gift budget? If you find out where the happy couple is registered, buy all the serving utensils or dish towels you can; you can fill a gift box with items like this for less than $20.
Marriage is supposed to be the union of a man and woman committing their lives to each other in front of all their loved ones. With a little forethought, you’ll enjoy supporting the newlyweds without breaking the bank.
The average cost of a wedding these days is $20,398. If you figure that a typical wedding event lasts for about six hours – from ceremony through reception – that’s about $3,400 per hour! If you’re interested in discovering the cost of a typical wedding in your area, visit CostofWedding.com.
Think about the financial implications of being a guest at a wedding. How far do you have to travel? Will you fly? Are you in the wedding party? What will you spend on a gift? Is your presence present enough? Where will you stay? Are you paying for meals?
As with anything else, the best place to start is with a budget. As you learn of a couple’s pending nuptials a few months in advance of the wedding, begin preparing your plan by totaling your anticipated expenses. The costs of travel, lodging, gift, and food must be included. Take that total and divide the amount by the number of months remaining until the wedding. If you save that dollar amount each month, you’ll be in great shape to enjoy the ceremony, do the Macarena at the reception, and not have to drag the couple’s commemorative sachet bag of personalized M&Ms home along with a bulging credit card bill.
What if there isn’t as much advance notice? Then it’s decision time. We can either decide to spend a little extra on a gift because we choose not to attend or vice versa. Or we could plan to attend while keeping lodging, food, and gift costs to a minimum. On a tight gift budget? If you find out where the happy couple is registered, buy all the serving utensils or dish towels you can; you can fill a gift box with items like this for less than $20.
Marriage is supposed to be the union of a man and woman committing their lives to each other in front of all their loved ones. With a little forethought, you’ll enjoy supporting the newlyweds without breaking the bank.
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