From South of the 49th Parallel comes Midwest Mom
Posted by Midwest Mom | Filed under Midwest Mom
I’m a stay-at-home mom managing the family finances. We’ve been married for 19 years and the lads are 11 and 9. Outside of work and school, we all try to be together. I love to cook and mealtime is a key part of our life. We eat breakfast and supper together most every day…at the kitchen table, facing each other, unplugged. I’m going to try to hang onto that as we enter the teen years.
We are Americans, so some parts of our financial reality are radically different than yours. My husband is self-employed, which means we buy our own health insurance. (Expect to read more about that.) He’s a salesman on commission only, which means we occasionally navigate several consecutive months without any income. (Expect me to whine more about that.)
I’m a self-help junkie. “FlyLady” Marla Cilley helped me keep it together when the boys were small. I still practice zone cleaning and follow daily routines, but I consider myself a graduate. Since the home is pretty well under control, I find David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” to be more useful to me now. I just started using “The House That Cleans Itself” by Mindy Starns Clark to help me prepare to move house in the coming year.
Aside from a few personal finance books, most of what I know about money I learned from my husband. Most of that is “spend a little less than you make.” Lately we are learning that’s not enough. As we get closer to the boys’ college years and our retirement years, we have found that we could have done more planning. I intend to work through “Debt Free Forever” and “It’s Never Too Late” in the coming months. I hope to have a give-and-take with all of you about those.
I’m curious. I often wish I could ask questions about things I observe. Sure, I can ask the cashier why the store wants my zip code in a cash transaction (they use it to decide where to build new stores). But I’ve found that people get defensive when you ask why they drive 15 minutes to save two cents a gallon on gas but buy groceries without a menu plan, a list or coupons. I just wonder how people think.
-mwm
A stay-at-home mom managing the family finances, Midwest Mom is our New Voice from south of the 49th Parallel. Married for 19 years with two boys, 11 and 9, she considers herself “a self-help junkie.”
January 14, 2012 at 3:03 pm
Hi Midwest Mom! Like you, my husband and I wish we had planned more for our upcoming retirement years, so I’ll be interested to hear what you have to say about that.
Good luck with your move. Been there, done that. Hope to not do it again for a long time!
February 6, 2012 at 2:07 pm
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