Grandma Stories» Discipline

Getting Out Of Debt On Your Own – Personal Finance Blogs to Help Get Out of Debt

Grandma — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:38:37 +0000

Grandpa and I have been working hard on getting out of debt, or more specifically, getting out of credit card debt, on our own. Like many other Americans who are dealing with debt from credit cards and/or loans etc, working hard to reduce or eliminate debt from credit cards became our New Year’s Resolution after Christmas last year.

Of course, there is such a thing as good debt, such as paying for a mortgage that creates home equity – which after a period of time allows homeowners to sell their house at a nice profit if the housing market is right for homeowners to sell their home. Right now, the housing market sucks due to the economy, so there’s no way we’d be able to sell our house even if we wanted to, at least not for the kind of money we’d want and need to get for it.

Anyway, in order to help us meet our goals of getting out of debt completely, we made the tough decision to really tighten our financial “belt” so to speak and focus our time and energies on paying off all credit cards and loans as quickly as possible. One debt-inducing expense each year has been the amount of money that is often spent buying Christmas presents for everyone on our xmas list. We are generous gift givers, to a fault.

As the Christmas season rolls around each year, it seems there have been more and more names needing to be added to our Christmas gift list, and something has to give. Between family, friends, adult children, grandchildren, parents, grandparents, bosses, co-workers, etc – the gift giving list and available monies has its limits, especially considering our efforts to get out of debt rather than increase our debt.

As much as we’d like to be able to continue buying everyone gifts for Christmas, as well as gifts for those we haven’t bought for in awhile, getting out of debt has to be given first priority. We’re not getting any younger either. Call it selfish if you wish, but we’re focusing on ourselves and our needs, for a change.

Getting out of debt once and for all means creating and sticking to a tight budget and not creating new debt, so that any and all remaining income from our jobs and money made from being a freelance writer and blogger goes to paying down debt until there is a zero balance on any and all credit cards.

“Getting out of debt on your own” means we are doing this on our own, rather than trusting our money and credit history to possible debt consolidation scams and schemes we hear so much about it on the news and online. A friend of mine was kind enough to buy Dave Ramsey’s book called The Total Money Makeover along with the accompanying Total Money Makeover Workbook as a gift for Grandpa and I to help us in our efforts to get out of debt the smart way.

Getting Out Of Debt Blogs

I’ve been reading many of the top personal finance blogs found online for quite some time now and will continue to do so. There are hundreds of “get out of debt” blogs online, with helpful tips about easy ways to reduce debt quickly, written by knowledgeable and experienced financial experts. Many of my favorite personal finance blogs are authored by people paying off debt just like you and I, who are “blogging away debt” and explaining their journey to a debt-free life on their personal finance blogs, for free.

We don’t need consumer credit counseling help either, and there are a lot of scams regarding those too, so thanks but no thanks. Creating a budget that we can and will stick to isn’t rocket science. Coming up with some easy and simple ways to pay down credit card bills isn’t hard either.

We’re eating out less. We’re watching rented movies at home instead of spending money at the movie theater and on expensive snacks. I quit smoking and the money saved by not buying cigarettes goes towards paying down credit card debt. Brown bagging lunches, instead of eating lunch at restaurants, creates a sizable savings each week that goes towards paying off debt.

We’re also creating a grocery budget, which will help to eliminate needless spending at the grocery store on things we really don’t need to be eating. The fact that we’ve set a goal of losing some weight over the next few months will also help reduce our grocery bill too, since we won’t be spending nearly as much money on snacks and junk foods. We’re well on our way towards getting out of debt, having already paid off a couple credit cards so far, and there’s no stopping us now.

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Kids of Working Moms are Fat and Unhealthy Kids British Study Says

Grandma — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:29:23 +0000

Uh oh.., a newly released British study says kids of working moms are fat and unhealthy, laying the fault right on the shoulders of working mothers. Watch out moms, the Guilt Trip inducing Fat Police are on their way! Hey working moms, do you think mothers that work full or part-time make their kids fat? Are kids fat because of working moms? Will the Mommy Wars ever end?

According to the study involving 12,500 5-year-old kids by Britain’s Institute of Child Health, researchers found that children of working moms are less active, spend too much time on the computer or watching television and are more likely to eat unhealthy foods, compared to children of stay-at-home moms.

The research, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Child Health, concluded that kids of working mothers are more likely to drink sodas and snack on “crisps and sweets” between meals, and less likely to snack on healthy food choices like fruits and vegetables than kids of stay-at-home moms. Ouch.

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

It’s interesting and disturbing that the “blame” is placed on working moms rather than saying kids are fat because of “parents”. Where are the dads in these research studies? In the study, kids of working moms are more likely to be driven to school compared to kids of stay-at-home moms, who tend to walk or ride bikes to school.

BBC commenter Naomi says, “I’m cross on so many levels, but mainly a personal one! I work, my husband doesn’t, he is our daughter’s main carer. He walks her to school, he looks after her after school stuff and cooks her meals every day. She has restricted TV time and is not allowed sweets. Why do people insist on saying ‘mother’ when they often mean ‘parent’. It’s wrong on other levels too of course, but for me it’s the stupidity of assuming a mum should stay at home and a dad should work – are we still in the 50s?”

Regarding kids of mothers who work part-time, the effect on kids eating habits, amount of exercise and activity was less than that of working mothers, but still significant, according to the Guardian. In the study, the average number of hours the mothers worked was only 21 hours each week. Professor Catherine Law, who lead the study, says “Our results do not imply that mothers should not work. Rather they highlight the need for policies and programmes to help support parents.”

Anna North, from Jezebel.com says “if kids’ health really does suffer when moms work outside the home, the solution isn’t to heap more guilt on moms, who often don’t have much choice. Instead, as Law says, parents and kids need better support and facilities to make healthy food and exercise more accessible.”

Healthy eating habits have been deteriorating for many years now, and it doesn’t matter if you live in the U.S., the U.K., or anywhere else. As interesting as it may be to read about why kids are getting fat from research studies and opinion polls, it’s really a matter of common sense, regardless of whether parents work full-time or part-time. If your kid is fat, overweight, obese or even “morbidly obese”, do a personal inventory of the kinds of foods found in your kitchen cabinets, pantry, refrigerator or freezer and what foods you are feeding your kids and how much.

Encouraging healthy eating habits and getting kids to eat healthy is not rocket science, and it shouldn’t matter one bit if moms are working full or part-time, or if dads are working. Many moms and dads simply have no choice but to work outside their home. But, being a working mom or dad and being too tired after working all day to come home and prepare healthy meals and snacks for kids is no excuse. Childhood obesity may get moms and dads arrested and charged with child abuse or neglect, and the fat police aren’t going to be too accepting of the most common excuses used by moms or dads like, “my kid is a picky eater”.

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Healthy Eating For Kids – How to Get Kids to Eat Healthy Foods

Grandma — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:48:17 +0000

Getting kids to eat healthy foods is a growing problem for many parents, especially healthy eating for picky kids. Why is it so hard for parents these days to get their kids to eat healthy foods, I wonder? We hear so much about kids being “picky eaters” and how children refuse to eat anything healthy like vegetables and fresh fruit, and how even toddlers are only willing to eat fried foods, sugary treats, high calorie snacks and junk that have no nutritional value whatsoever.

One of the typical excuses I’ve heard in recent years is that parents are too busy and too tired to prepare and cook after working all day at their jobs, and when they get home after a hard day at work, the last thing they want to do is slave away in the kitchen doing the necessary preparation and cooking to serve a healthy, nutritious meal for their family. Unfortunately, many stay-at-moms have complained about the same problem with their kids. Namely, how to get kids to eat healthy when the kids say they don’t like something?

I’m so glad my kids are all grown now and I don’t have to deal with the problems and struggles of raising young children and teens anymore. Something else I don’t understand is when parents of toddlers talk about their difficulty in getting their little kids as young as 3, 4 or 5 years old to eat anything remotely healthy. Getting toddlers to eat healthy foods is elementary “Parenting 101” as far as I’m concerned.

Healthy Eating For Kids

The idea that it’s so hard to get a toddler to eat healthy foods seems preposterous to me. Geez, if a parent can’t manage to deal with the problems that come from a little kid like a toddler, what are parents going to do when their kid gets a little older, or enters middle school and high school when things really start to get interesting?

Children have to be taught the difference between good and bad eating habits, which starts even before a kid is officially labeled as a toddler, not when kids have already become teens. Teaching healthy eating habits to kids, toddlers and teens is not rocket science. Parents don’t have to become a licensed nutritionist or get a college degree in health subjects to teach kids how to eat healthy and learn to like healthy foods at the same time.

With so much information available online and in books for parents, guardians and caregivers to learn how to teach healthy eating habits for kids of all ages, it seems silly to me to say anything about the need to encourage healthy eating from a very early age by introducing and reintroducing new healthy food items on a regular and continuing basis.

When was the last time you really took an inventory of the kinds of foods found in your refrigerator, freezer, food pantry or cupboards? What types of foods are you as the parent choosing to feed your kids? Are your cupboards primarily filled with high calorie, sugar laden cereals? Twinkies, donuts, chips, cookies, cakes, frozen waffles, pizza and similar unhealthy foods and snacks?

What percentage of the foods in your home would be considered “healthy” versus the percentage of “junk foods”? Who buys the food your family and children have been eating? Whose fault is it if your kids refuse to eat healthy foods, if the majority of the foods you buy for your children and family is fattening junk food?

Are your kids fast food junkies? To be really blunt, if your kids refuse to eat healthy foods and are throwing tantrums and hissy-fits about wanting nothing to eat except unhealthy foods until you give in to their demands, you only need to look in the mirror as to the reasons why children are getting fat and why getting your kids to eat healthy is so hard. Sorry, but it’s true.

Getting Kids to Eat Healthy

Kids throw a fit and start complaining, whining, crying and screaming about what is being served for mealtime, and what do the parents do? Fuss and fight with their kids for awhile, but eventually give in. Your kid is teaching you rather than you teaching your child to eat what has been prepared for the family. You’re allowing your kid(s) to turn you into a short-order cook in your own home. Dr. Phil calls that “the tail wagging the dog”, and today’s parents have fallen for that little trick “hook, line and sinker”.

The primary role and responsibility for parents is to teach their children everything they need to know to become full grown, responsible adults, and it starts from the moment kids are born. If you want your kids to eat healthy, then you as the parent must be a good role model by fixing healthy foods for yourself and for your kids, rather than doing what may seem fast and easy because you are tired or have other things you want to do.

You only get one shot in this life to raise your kids right, and if you don’t take healthy eating seriously enough right now while your children are young and teachable, the rate of obesity in children will continue to skyrocket and their health may be damaged beyond repair.

Even if your kids are in school and are eating the junk foods the school system puts out in the cafeteria, how are you providing your children a well-balanced nutritious healthy meal during the time they are at home with you? What is breakfast like in your home? What are you serving your children for dinner that would help balance the unhealthy foods they may be eating at school?

Getting kids to eat healthy is not that hard. Parents just have to make the firm decision that living a healthy lifestyle matters not only for themselves, but also for their children and teens. When planning a grocery list of foods to buy and a weekly menu of meals to prepare for your family, cross off your list high calorie, fattening foods and create a grocery list of primarily healthy items and begin training you and your children’s taste buds to like healthy foods more than what is unhealthy.

Before long, you will all begin to discover that many unhealthy foods don’t taste nearly as good as it once did and you won‘t crave junk food or salty snacks, and your new healthy eating habits will have become second nature to you and your kids.

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