Number 5 – Follow Through

Okay.  You’ve finally decided to get your financial house in order.  You’ve worked through the numbers and sorted out your bills.  You’ve filled out your budget – (My favorite? You Need A Budget) – and you and your spouse on the same page.  There’s just one more thing you need to do — Follow Through.

How many times have you said that you were going to focus on debt reduction, only to put it off for “one more month”?

How many times have you “thought” about creating a will or buying more life insurance?

How many times have you “really meant to” fund a Roth IRA?

How many times have you talked about saving for kids’ college, or a newer car, or new appliances?

Don’t just think about making a change – Make a change!

It doesn’t matter how many times you rework your spreadsheets or retool your debt reduction plan.  If you don’t implement your plan, the plan becomes useless.  So, turn of the TV, grab that stack of bills, get started – and keep going!

You rock!

This post was written twenty minutes after Interval Training Thursday – if it reads a little coach-like, that’s why! 

Number 6 – Work Together

A good friend of mine owns a two-person pedal boat.  The last time I got in the boat, my nine year daughter and two of her friends hopped in the boat with me.  As you can imagine, I did most of the pedaling.  By the time we circled my friend’s pond and arrived back at the dock, I was exhausted.

It can be tough trying to go it alone, feeling like you are the only one working to get out of debt and save money.  If you want to succeed, you have to develop a plan which allows you and your family members to work together.

Talk With Your Spouse

Let’s face it.  If you are reading this blog post, then you are, more than likely, the person in the household who handles most of the financial paperwork – paying bills, filing taxes, balancing checkbooks.  As such, you probably feel overwhelmed, from time to time, with all of the responsibility you have.  If so, take a few minutes, maybe over a quiet dinner, to talk with your spouse.  Don’t argue, don’t condemn, don’t blame, just talk.

I’ve actually written a couple of posts about this subject -

How I Avoid Arguing With My Spouse About Money and

Is It Really Possible To Talk To Yur Spouse About Finances Without Getting Into An Argument

Talk With Your Kids

I have three kids, ages 9, 4, and 6 months.  Obviously, I have a different conversation with the 9 year old than I do with the 4 year old, but they both know that we “honor every dollar” that comes into our house.  If you are heavily in debt, and worried, some of that worry is bound to rub off on your kids.  Be reasonable.  Don’t put more on you child than he or she can bare.  At the same time, be as honest as you can and let them know that you – and the whole family – are working hard to save money.  As kids get older, let them in on, little by little, to the realities of family finances.

Here’s a post I wrote a few months ago -

5 Ways To Teach Young Children About Money

Become A Team

As corny as it sounds, when my two older kids get in an argument, I take both of them by the hand, and walk them to a quite place in the house.  Kneeling down, to their eye level, I remind them that we are a team, and that we have to work together.  The same holds true when it comes to managing family finances.  The entire family has to be moving, together, in the same direction, like minded and determined.  As an adult, you can cultivate a good attitude if you celebrate victories, those big and small.  If your daughter receives a twenty dollar bill at Christmas, teach her how to save a portion, give a portion, and spend a portion.  Let her have some freedom, but also teach her some responsibility.

Find Your Role

Do what you do best and let your spouse do what he / she does best.  Support one another.  I like graphs, charts, spread sheets, and calculations.  So, in our family, I do most of the paperwork.  My wife, she’s more of a people person, so she handles a lot of the human interactions – calling doctors, insurance companies, etc.  This works for us.

Here’s a more in depth look at the subject of family roles

How Free Spirits And Money Nerds Can Help Each Other Out

Number 7 – Get Fit

About two years ago, I began a search for new term life insurance policies – one for myself and one for my wife.  When the quotes started rolling in, I noticed something.  Her premiums were lower – much lower – than mine.  At first, I thought this might be because she’s a woman and I’m a man.  I called an agent and asked why there was such a discrepancy, and he told me that it had much more to do with the fact that I was overweight, than it did with my wife being a woman.  As a test, I ran a few more quotes, using my ideal weight, instead of my actual, and I was shocked.  The premiums were reduced by more than 50%!  Moral of the story?  It pays to get fit.

Lower Insurance Costs

If you plan to purchase life insurance, disability insurance, or heath insurance, and you are not covered by a group policy from your employer, more than likely, the more in shape you are, the lower you premiums will be.

Lower Gasoline Costs

Back in July, Lazy Man wrote a very interesting post about saving money while driving – and he included a quick tip about how losing weight increases gas mileage.  I’d never really thought about this, but after doing a bit of research, it looks like reducing the weight in an automobile by 100 pounds will reduce fuel costs by 2%.  As some of you know, I also blog about weight loss, over at No. Calories Needed, and my ultimate goal is to lose (about) 80 pounds.

Lower Health Care Costs

When I write “get fit” – I usually mean “lose weight”.  The truth is, obviously, that getting fit is about much more than simply losing weight.  Here are two big time health issues that cost billions each year -

Smoking - If the fact that it causes cancer doesn’t deter you, perhaps the fact that it’s a very expensive habit will?  At $3 a pack, per day, your habit costs you more than $1000 per year.

Type 2 Diabetes – From WebMD: Anyone can get type 2 diabetes. However, those at highest risk for the disease are those who are obese or overweight… My grandmother had diabetes.  She had to learn to give herself shots, she was constantly checking her “sugar”, and she dealt with terrible pain in her joints and limbs.  Diabetes is a debilitating, expensive disease.

Lower Clothing Costs

This one might be stretching it – (get it? stretching it) – but, as a big dude, I pay more for clothes than a skinny dude does.  Well, I did, until last week when I moved down from 2X to XL shirts.  That’s write, after losing more than 8 pounds, I bought a new shirt in the regular sizes department.  Larger sizes, of the same style garment, cost more (at certain retailers).  Losing weight not only reduces the cost of new clothes, it also makes those “one day I’m going to get back into these” clothes in the closet into “wow, these fit” clothes.

I’m sure that there are other benefits that I’m forgetting.  Can you think of some more ways that losing weight helps us save money?