Archives for 2012

Goals for November 2012: Never Pay Retail

November 7, 2012 by Tracy

Photograph Credit: Flickr (Angie Torres)

Month 11 is upon us. I cannot believe how far I’ve come with these goals that I never really thought I would accomplish this year. With some goals easier than others, I am enjoying this process.

Seeing the finish line for 2012, I am cracking down to finish well. In moving forward, the following is my recap of October and my goals for November:

Physical

Drink 4 glasses of water per day. Though drinking 3 consistently, I have not mastered that 4^th glass yet.

Eat breakfast each morning. Done!

Exercise for 20 minutes at least 3 times a week. With soccer season complete, I am missing my walks during practice. This goal is really hard for me. When I get down a routine, it changes, and then I’m back to finding a new schedule. This goal is keeping me on my toes. 😉

Family

Plan at least one family outing/activity each week. Accomplished!

Spend 10 minutes with each child each day. Done!

Allow children to help with a household task each week. They continue to help, especially when a game, tool, or reward is included.

Financial

Follow Crystal’s year-long plan to reach my goals. From last month, I got my coupons organized. Yeah! This month’s goal is to never pay retail. Why would I ever pay retail, when there are so many ways to save? 🙂 My favorite saving strategy this time of year is through on-line shopping in addition to coupons and other deals.

Purchase dressers for my daughters’ room. This goal is ongoing. We are planning to redecorate the girls’ room in spring, so this goal is on hold.

Purchase upgraded computers for hubby and me. This goal is also ongoing. We might have a solution. I’ll keep you posted.

Business

Write posts one week in advance. I’m just writing. I am still behind on posts, but I’m catching up. October posts are finished, now working on November. However, I have posts scheduled through the end of the year. I just need to keep writing. 🙂

Make one improvement to the blog this month. No progress this month.

Read two chapters of blog book each month. No progress this month.

With a large fundraiser on the horizon, I had to put some of these items on the back burner. In using time wisely, I made some baby steps forward which is progress. As you keep pressing on, finish well. Happy goal reaching!

Question: How are your goals coming along?

2012: Happy Election Day!

November 6, 2012 by Tracy

Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images

Embarking on a day filled with numbers and speculation, I am embracing this Election Day! In the United States, we still have the freedom to vote for our leaders.

Preparing to spend all morning at the polling location, Paul, my youngest daughter, and I headed out with our jackets, snacks, stroller, and iPad.

With only about a 50-minute wait, my daughter and I strolled the empty hallways while she pushed the stroller, we looked at the trophy cases, and chatted with the lady ahead of us.

The lines moved quickly, and I was thankful that our almost 3-hour wait four years ago shrunk down to less than an hour’s wait today. Oh what a privilege to vote in a location with a fast Internet connection! 🙂

As you head to the polls to cast your vote, arm yourself with patience as you continue using time wisely exercising your American privilege.

Happy Election Day!

Question: How long did you wait to cast your vote?

Our Halloween Bash – Part 3 of 3

November 6, 2012 by Tracy

Everything is set for our Halloween Bash with the menu planned, invitations distributed, and the itinerary created.

After making the meal, decorating our house, and gathering the supplies, we were ready for our guests to arrive.

Part 3: Executing the evening of the Halloween Bash

With the itinerary in hand, the party began.

Greet each guest and allow the children to play in the living room

While the children played, the adults put the final touches on dinner and served the children’s plates.

Serve dinner: lasagna, salad, and bread

With Paul’s help, we had three tables:

Adults
Older children
Younger children

Create crafts with the children

I purchased four different types of craft kits from the Target $1 section. Each child got to choose the craft of their choice. I had enough crafts for each child to do one, and each received their first choice. Glad it worked out. 😉

At the conclusion of the craft, each child was given an empty goody bag and allowed to choose prizes from the two containers.

Choose teams and play Bounce the Ball into the Pumpkin.

This game is one of the favorites. The children got so excited getting those ping pong balls into their pumpkin.

The real fun is choosing their prizes and playing with the Halloween-themed toys.

Play Mummy Wrap.

The children had so much fun playing Bounce the Ball and no one wanted to do the Mummy Wrap, so we skipped this game.

Serve Dessert

One of our guests offered to bring dessert, and her chocolate trifle was delightful!

Play Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin.

Following dessert, I assisted the children playing Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin. Almost all of them got it in the right spot. Pretty impressive if the blindfold worked! 😉

Each child then received more prizes for participating. Once finished playing with them, they added their prizes to their goody bag.

Play with toys and prizes from the games

Giving the children free time to play with each other, they chose different items. Some of them played the games again while others enjoyed the toys and prizes.

In executing the itinerary, I followed the plan making slight adjustments throughout the process. Seeing what the children enjoyed transitioned into a smooth running, enjoyable Halloween Bash.

As you carry out your itinerary, make adjustments as needed. Knowing where you are going in your plan gives you freedom to tweak and rearrange the order resulting in a fun event for all. Happy planning!

Question: During execution, do you adjust your itinerary?

How to Make Cleaning Fun for Children – Part 1b of 3

November 5, 2012 by Tracy

Photograph Credit: iClipart

With cleaning and maintaining our homes, these tasks do not need to carry a “boring” or “dreaded” tagline. As my children enjoy a clean and organized home, Paul and I work really hard to help them own our home with us. We all pitch in to help keep our house clean and clutter-free.

Last week, I began this series on how to make cleaning fun for children by sharing two games we use while doing laundry.

These games can be adjusted to other items around your house because one way to spice up cleaning is by creating a game.

Part 1: Create a Game

The Who makes the most points? and the Where’s the match? games add variety and fun. In addition to these two games, our family also plays the following two games while doing a general pickup of our home:

Bucket in the Middle

With this game, we place a container (e.g., laundry basket, box, bucket, etc.) in the center of the room. Then we pickup all objects not in their place and place or toss them into the container.

The goal of the game is a general pickup. I can then distribute the items to each child for delivery to their rightful place.

For a variation on this game, we have everyone pickup 10 items and see who gets done first. Another change is to assign sections of the room to each family member and see which area has more items in the container. This game provides lots of fun options resulting in a cleaned, or at least picked up, space.

Stop. Set. Go.

This game is great for those few minutes before dinner is ready, right before bedtime, or when you need a few uninterrupted moments. (You know you need a little non-interrupted time within your day, don’t you. :-))

Just have everyone stop what they are doing. You choose the room that needs cleanup, set the timer, and go. Watch your children tidy a room to beat the clock. For small messes, I set the timer to 2 minutes. For larger messes, I start at 5 minutes. Usually, the project is done with time to spare.

Whether you choose to create a game of your own or try the Bucket in the Middle or Stop.Set.Go, get your family involved while making it fun for everyone. My children always want to help, and I continue to learn ways to encourage their willingness and teach them how to clean while making it fun. Happy playing!

Question: What games do you play to encourage your children’s help?

Retirement: Defining the Types of Accounts

November 4, 2012 by Tracy

When building a house, one begins by designing the framework. If you begin choosing tables and bedroom furniture, you might end up with too much space or not enough.

Starting with the framework and layout determines how you decorate. With retirement savings, one needs to begin with the framework – the plans.

In organizing our important documents, we are concentrating on our retirement plan documents held within File Box 3.

Last week, I provided an overview of the retirement category, and today, we start by defining the types of accounts.

Defining Retirement Account Types

Though there are numerous types of retirement accounts, the four major types are employer-sponsored, self-employment, individual, and annuities.

Employer-sponsored Plans

401(a) Account

Coming from the section of the tax code regulating these plans, the 401(a) is a qualified governmental plan. If you work for local, state, or federal government, you probably have this option. These plans provide an account into which both the employee and the employer contribute or the employer solely contributes.

The retirement income is based on the account balance accumulated throughout the years of the retiree’s employment at the time of retirement. Any distributions, investment gains, or investment losses will affect this balance. The account balance is a combination of the contributions, performance of the investment funds selected, and fees and expenses from the investment options offered through the employer’s investment providers.

These plans accrue tax-free. Taxes are owed only when the funds are dispersed from the account.

401(k) Account

The 401(k) plans are usually offered through payroll deduction from your employer. With contributions excluded from your reported income, these amounts are usually free from federal and state income taxes. You will not pay taxes until you withdraw the money.

A benefit to this plan is if your employer matches your contribution. If your company matches 6% of your contribution, then you will want to contribute at least 6% (if you can afford it) to get the full matching benefit.

If you cannot contribute the maximum matching percentage, then aim to do so. This is extra savings in your account.

403(b) Account

These 403(b) plans are for nonprofit organizations. They carry the same benefits as the 401(k), but have slightly different regulations for setting up. The tax code section is different which is why this is a separate type of account.

Self-employment Plans

SEP-IRAs

This type of retirement plan is a Simplified Employee Pension Individual Retirement Account. If you are self-employed, then this type of account is an option for your retirement savings. Consider doing some research on the benefits.

Keogh Plan

Though more paperwork than a SEP-IRA, the Keogh plan allows one to put aside a large percentage of the self-employed income. These types of accounts are a bit complicated with filings and four different types. If you are interested, please research and find a great resource to help you set it up and administer correctly.

Individual Retirement Accounts

Traditional IRA

A traditional individual retirement account allows one to deposit money into this account tax-free. Since you are making the deposit on after-tax dollars, you claim these contributions on your tax return which lowers your income for the year.

Your money accrues tax-free until you make a withdrawal. When you make a withdrawal, you will claim that money on your tax return and claim the appropriate amount of tax.

One downside of a traditional IRA is the requirement to begin making withdrawals at the age of 59 ½ .

ROTH IRA

The ROTH IRA is another type of individual retirement account. Unlike the Traditional IRA, one pays taxes on the money before investing.

The benefit is that at the time of withdrawal, no tax is owed. The money still accrues within the account, but you are not required to withdrawal the money at any specific age. You can just let it build until you need it, even if you wait until age 75.

Annuities

With contracts backed by insurance companies, annuities are not tax-deductible. This type of investment makes sense for those who reached the limit on employer-sponsored and self-employment plans, made the maximum contributions to an IRA, and willing to leave the money compounding for at least 15 years.

With so many types of retirement plans, these four are basic ones. There are many different forms these types take, but just understanding the types gives you a framework for deciding on the best options for your family. If this was too much information, just concentrate on the employer-sponsored and IRA options. These are the typical accounts one would carry.

Weekly Project: Determine which types of retirement plans you carry.

In using time wisely to get your important documents organized, keep gathering your retirement documents. Next week, we will continue looking at how to allocate your money within your desired plan. Keep learning!

Question: How many types of retirement accounts do you have?

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