I’ve been staying close to home - waiting for baby number three to arrive - and doing some work in the yard. Yesterday, I pressure washed the siding on our house and spent some time edging our driveway and freshening the pine straw in our flowerbeds. I like working outside and I’ve been busy taking care of a few small projects, trying to keep my mind occupied.

A few years ago, I took down our old, broken over-the-air television antenna. When I took it down, I just threw it behind our shed, out of sight, and for the most part, out of mind. But, a few days ago, a friend mentioned that aluminum prices had gone up and that he was getting 42 cents, per pound, for aluminum cans. Most old antennas are made from aluminum, so I backed my truck up to the back of the shed and started breaking the antenna into little sections. It took about five minutes, the antenna was disassembled and ready for recycling. I also found an old road sign, left by the previous occupants of our house, and an old awning which had blown off of our church. I suspected (and I was right) that the sign and the awning were also made from aluminum. So, I loaded them into the truck as well.

This morning, with no signs that baby number three was ready to be born, I headed to the local recycling plant. After weighing the sign, the antenna parts, and the awning, the guy running the plant handed me $30. It was pretty cool to get paid for junk that I would normally have just taken to the local dump. Subtracting gasoline costs from the equation, I probably netted $25 or so - for less than 15 minutes of actual work.

Edit:  I just found out that aluminum cans fetch even MORE per pound - between 75 and 80 cents!

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The following is a guest post from Paid Twice - who writes about debt reduction, life, and creating a healthy financial future.  This post is also the long-awaited conclusion to my ‘33 Days And 33 Ways To Save Money And Reduce Debt‘ series.  I want to thank Paid Twice for her awesome article - and I encourage you to visit her awesome site - Paid Twice.

Day 33 of 33 Days and 33 Ways To Save Money and Reduce Debt:  Remember to Live a Little

Just give yourself room to live a little.  Life still happens no matter what your goals are.  And all of our lives should feel like they are worth living.

Again, I want to thank Paid Twice for the awesome post.  And, I second everything she wrote.  When you visit her site, let her know that NCN sent you!

As most of you know, my wife is expecting our third child.  While ‘baby number 3′ still hasn’t arrived, we are very, very busy, getting ready for her birth.  Over the next few weeks, I’ll feature original content, written by me, and several guest posts, written by some of my favorite personal finance bloggers.  I appreciate your loyalty and patience, as we prepare for and enjoy the birth of our little girl.

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I’ll assume that many of you will be receiving an income tax refund and/or a stimulus check.  Here are some suggestions for what to do with those checks -

1.  Emergency Fund - I like to maintain an emergency fund equal to $500 per person in our family.  We have 4 people, right now, soon to be 5, so our emergency fund equals $2500.  If you don’t have an emergency fund, use your check(s) to fund one.

2.  Debt Reduction - If you have your emergency fund, but you still have non-mortgage debt, consider depositing your check and then sending a ‘big splash’ payment to one (or more) or your creditors.  Depending on your debt reduction technique, you’ll send your extra payment to the account with the lowest balance or the account with the highest interest.

3.  Roth IRA - Have you started saving for retirement?  For 2008, the per person contribution limit for Roth IRAs (in most cases) is $5000.

4.  Emergency Fund (2) - If you are out of debt, now would be a good time to really build up your emergency fund.  I like to have enough money in my emergency fund to cover six months’ worth of expenses.  Depositing that check could go a long ways towards funding your Emergency Fund.

5.  Automobile Repairs/Maintenance - If you are trying to avoid borrowing money to purchase newer automobiles, you might consider using your refund or stimulus check to repair or maintain your automobile.  I am going to use a portion of my stimulus check to buy new tires for my paid-for Honda.

6.  Fun - If it’s been a while since you went out to eat or bought an new outfit, live a little.  Personally, I wouldn’t spend every dollar of my check on ‘fun stuff’, but I’ll probably use a small portion of our stimulus check to buy some new golf balls and a new pair of running shoes.

7.  College Savings - We have two kids, and a third on the way, and we are saving for their future college expenses.  Take a look at ESAs and 529 plans and consider funding one or both.

Final notes - If you are getting back a sizable income tax refund, you might want to check your withholding.  Remember, the money you are ‘receiving’ is actually your money! There is no real sense in loaning Uncle Sam your money, interest free, for a year.  Also, please don’t use your refund / stimulus check as down payment for some item that you can’t afford.  Don’t turn a blessing into a curse.  Use the money wisely and you’ll be happy with your decision.

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I like to buy big-ticket items - new computers, new televisions, new lawn mowers.  My wife likes to buy small-ticket items - and lots of them.  We have two children (and a third on the way) and both of them like stuff - bubble gum, crayons, toys, dolls, video games, etc.  So, how do we, a family full of ’spenders’ - manage to reduce debt, save money, and live on a budget?

Me - Daddy, Husband, Budget Creator, Grocery Shopper, Planner

As I’m sure you can figure out, I’m our family’s ‘money nerd’.  I like to crunch numbers, create graphs, develop systems, pay bills, and balance checkbooks.  So, I handle the day-to-day management of our finances.  I make sure that my wife has money in her checking account and cash for monthly expenses.  I buy most of our groceries and I handle transfers to our savings and retirement accounts.  I’m the one who casts the vision  - and does the research - and reads the books.

My Wife - Mommy, Wife, Organizer, Social Planner, Household Manager

My wife is the best Mommy that I know - and a large portion of her time is spent managing our household and caring for our kids.  She has ‘budget veto power’.  I create the budget, but she has free reign to change it as she sees fit, based on the real-world needs of our family.  (In three years of living on a budget, she’s never actually exercised this ‘veto’ power.  We are pretty much on the same wavelength.  But, if she ever felt that I was being foolish or difficult, she has every right to make a change.  It’s not my money or her money, it’s our money.)

How we work well together -

Like I said, I’m good at creating plans - and creating a vision for our future.  My wife, on the other hand, is great at keeping things organized and running smoothly.  So, I spend my time thinking about the big things, those things that will help us one year, five years, ten years, and thirty years down the road - and I spend time, each day, working on the details of those plans.  But, I also struggle to focus on the little things that really help to save money - and that’s where my wife does a great job.  We’ve found a good balance between long-term planning and day-by-day living.  And, we’ve learned the power of the word ‘WE’.  We are debt free.  We are saving for our retirement.  We are buying a new lawnmower.  As I’ve mentioned many times before, when you read the word “I” on this blog, feel free to replace it with the word “We”.  Instead of arguing about our finances - we have have agreed to work together, living within the constraints of our budget.

Our kids and money -

I’ve tried, on several occasions, to institute a system of ‘allowance’ or ‘payments’ for the work that our kids do around the house.  But, to be frank, at this point, our kids pretty much do what we ask, without expecting payment.  As the kids get older, I’m sure we’ll move towards a chores-list with payments, but, for now, we just don’t need it.  Our kids receive money from grandparents for their birthdays and various holidays, and they are free to spend that money on whatever they want, after setting aside a percentage for giving and saving.  Instead of focusing on money, we are focusing on responsibility - caring for our toys, turning off lights, being thankful for what we have, and honoring Mommy and Daddy when they say ‘no’ or ‘yes’.

We try to avoid fixed roles, but we do know what we are good at and where we need to improve.  I like to cook and shop for groceries, so I do those things for our family.  My wife does a great job of cleaning our house and keeping things in order.  My daughter is quiet, and she helps keep us focused on family things - playing games, drawing, watching movies.  My son, he’s Professor-Inquisitive, and he keeps us on our toes - constantly looking for inexpensive ways to learn more about the world around us.

Frankly, we spend a few minutes, each day, talking about our finances, and then we spend the majority of our time thinking about ‘important’ things - our family, our church, and our friends.  Once you take control and decide to manage your finances, you’ll be amazed by the number of issues that seem to disappear (or fix themselves).  Now, instead of borrowing our way into misery, we save for the things we want - and then we actually enjoy buying them.

I recently purchased a surround-sound system for our den.  I’ve been saving for it for several months, and when we recently took a trip out of town, I found the system that I wanted, and I bought it.  Instead of worrying about how we were going to afford it or feeling guilty because ‘we spent too much money’ - I’m sitting here watching the Final Four in brilliant high definition and blazing surround sound.  And, I don’t feel like I wasted any money, because I made a well thought out, researched, intentional purchase.   The same is true about EVERY purchase we make.  We have a budget.  We live by that budget.  We talk about what we are saving for and what we want to buy.  We sacrifice for our futures, and, together, we make purchases that we can enjoy, right now.

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My family and I are off to the local nursery, to pick up an inexpensive flat of flowers.  We have two window boxes that rest on the banister outside our sun-room.  My son will get to pick the flowers for one box, my daughter will pick flowers for the other.  I have some potting soil leftover from last spring and we’ll use it to fill in any spaces not occupied by the roots of the flowers.  Throughout the Spring and the Summer, the kids can water the flowers and remove the weeds from the window boxes.

With baby number three on the way, it’s important that we spend quality time with the older kids.  It would be fun to start some flowers ‘from seeds’ - maybe we’ll try that next year, when my wife is NOT expecting!

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