Fees Paid for Making Partial Payments

Does anyone have any issues with paying in installments for insurance and then getting charged a fee for paying in installments?
For example
Life insurance could be $150 per year but if you chose to pay monthly, quarterly or semi-annually you are penalized. The life insurance invoice does not state the obvious. There is a fee if you pay in installments.

Our auto insurance has a similar fee if you pay monthly rather than every six months. You are charged a set dollar amount with every installment payment that you make.

I would prefer that the extra charges were obvious. Always pays to do the math.
So if I am willing to pay for a full year of life insurance I could save up to 8%. 8% penalty or fee for monthly payments; 6% for quarterly payments and 4% for semi-annual payments.

Overdraft Protection

If you decide to use your debit card; make sure you set up overdraft protection. There might still be a fee for the use but it should be less than without the overdraft protection. Normally you would need the bank to link the account or accounts for the overdraft protection. If you have multiple accounts; you should be able to designate which account can be used first.
Example:
You make a debit transaction and then have the debit transaction reversed for an error and the transaction is re rung. If you are carrying a low balance you will actually need enough money in the account to cover both debit transactions before the credit is applied. If this is the case it would be better to use a different account or a credit card (without a balance) to re ring the transaction then to risk getting a non sufficient funds charge or to use overdraft protection if there is a fee associated with the overdraft protection use.
My hunch is this is the same with hotels. They put a hold on more money then will be needed. This might give you a negative balance also.

My Mantra

I think it is time to revisit my mantra.

mission statement

If you teach a child to fish he will become a fisherman.
If you teach a child to read he will become a reader.
If you teach a child to be potty trained you save on diapers.
If you teach a child to tie shoes you can stop buying velcro.

Winter is upon us

Last weekend I spotted some hats and gloves in the center aisle. I thought I might as well get them now. Next I was hit by Christmas decorations. That makes sense but what I was surprised about was that the Thanksgiving merchandise was already priced at half off.
How do you prepare for winter? Do you buy hot chocolate, hats and gloves ahead of time or to you wait for the first snow flake to hit to find the boots?
Thinking about winter. One of the challenges is always to find snow worthy gloves. One of my friends said that only the first set of gloves need to match. After that you can have mismatched gloves. Wonder if that is the same for boots. (Just kidding.) Now back to planning for winter.
With five children, we are going to need to be prepared. Snow suits, snow gear oh boy.
What items are on your to buy list for winter?
Hats, gloves (multiple), coats, boots, rock salt, socks, slippers, pjs, sweaters, long sleeve shirts, winter stockings, dress shoes.
Things I bought this weekend were
Boys hats and gloves, pjs
Twins full body coats
Girls pjs

These were all impulse buys. Kudos to the store for actually having worth while impulse buys.
I enjoy seeing impulse buys but I realize that just because the item is on the end cap does not mean it is on sale.

Now I mentioned the to buy list. What about the find in your house list? If you start looking now, you might be able to cross one or two items off of your to buy list.

Now where do you store all of this stuff?
I was thinking about putting the items in reusable grocery bags. One for each child and adult. That could work for all the winter accessories.
Any winter thoughts?

How about books? Now is the time to start looking for the snowy type books. What is your favorite? The first Christmas or silent night?
That brings us to music. Do you have any Christmas / winter type music stored away? I am sure the stores will be willing to sell you some.

Christmas outfits. I was thinking that the zero to three Christmas outfits won't fit b/c they are already starting to wear 3-6 clothes. Then I got a brain storm. Take some Christmas pictures now.

After the Halloween party one year, I noticed the teacher took out a bin with her Thanksgiving items. It would be good to have one bin year after year just designed for the winter accessories. Books, music and winter coloring books could even squeeze in.

I guess we need lots of things for the winter season. But most of all we need to remember the spirit of the season.
Happy winterizing!! (Oh does that bring up getting the car ready?) Ice scrapers etc.

Missing Sock Pairs

I discovered the mystery of the missing socks that come out of the wash.
You need both socks to go into the washer in the same load to get an entire pair to come out!

Happy Halloween.

Challenge: Can we spend less than $X,000 per month?

For example:
$7,000 -Yes
$6,000 -Maybe
$5,000 -No

HOME
Mortgage
Snowball
Insurance
Lawn Care
Improvements
Repairs
Furniture
Decor Items
Landscaping
Pest Control

UTILITIES
Cable
Phone
Cell Phone Plans
Cable Modem for Internet
Oil
Sewer / Trash Pickup
Electric

CAR
Car Payments
Insurance
Inspections
Registrations
Maintenance
Gas
Repairs

SCHOOL
Tuition
Snacks
Lunch
Uniforms
Shoes
Gym Uniforms
Class Pictures
Class Trips
Holiday Parties (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines, St. Patty's
Day, Easter, End of the year parties)
Technology Fee
Supply Fee
Fund Raisers
School Supplies (backpacks, lunch bags, stationary)
Presents for Teachers

MEDICAL
Medical Plans
Flexible Spending Plans
Co-Pays
Pharmacy
Medical Products
Hospital Co-Pays

HOLIDAYS (Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter)
Decorations
Food
Drinks
Holiday Cards
Stamps
Presents

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS
Decorations
Food
Drinks
Presents
Party Games
Birthday celebrations outside the home

RELIGIOUS EVENTS

CHRISTENINGS
Presents
Food
Outfits
Decorations
Invitations

YOUNG CHILDREN (NOT POTTY TRAINED)
Diapers
Wipes
Burp Cloths
Bottles
Formula (1st Year)
Car Seats

FOOD
Dining Out
Take Out
Fast Food
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Snacks
Drinks
Desserts

CLOTHES
Casual
Formal
Work
Shoes
Bathing Suits

PERSONAL CARE
Hair Cuts
Personal Care products

HEALTH CLUB / SWIM CLUB
Memberships

PETS
Food
Checkups
Tests
Grooming
Vacation Pet Care

VACATIONS
Travel
Hotel /Accommodations
Meals
Amusements
Entertainment
Souvenirs

TECHNOLOGY
Computer upgrades
Printer
Television
Paper
Ink

VIDEO AND PHOTOGRAPHY
Cameras
Film
Developing
Printing
Paper
Albums

DONATIONS
Church
Charities

CHILD CARE
Babysitting
Toys
Videos

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

CONTINUING EDUCATION

SPORTS
Registration Fees
Uniforms
Pictures
Snacks for teams
Tuition Fees
Equipment

ENTERTAINMENT
Movies
Admissions
Seasonal Supplies
Books
Music

How Do You Mentally Prepare For 4 Weeks Without A Paycheck

--Due to taking four weeks of family leave this issue is upon us.

Prepare ahead of time
1) Take the rest of the paychecks and make up the difference. For example $26,000 per year becomes $24,000 per year. During the weeks without a paycheck you need to draw from previous paychecks. If you normally live on $500 per week you need to live on less, approximately 7 or 8% less. For every thousand dollars you make you need to save $80 or 8%.
2) Assuming you do not know ahead of time regarding the non paid leave or you are not prepared you need to draw from a separate source of funds. You need to repay that source within a set amount of time. Use the money to pay expenses. Return a set amount each paycheck to the borrowed upon source. This method would work best if you have some type of savings or emergency fund. A key is to pay back the source so your source of extra funds is not depleted next time you need to use the funds.

Cut down on expenses.
If you need to fund certain weeks with other weeks paychecks try to cut down expenses. Do you regularly donate to charities? Obviously you can't contribute without the necessary funds. But if the transfers and payments are automatic withdrawals you need to consider changing these before the transfers and withdrawals are set up for payment.
In our case this would mean revisiting saving accounts and retirement account transfers. In addition, charities and church donations need to be evaluated. Due to our family leave situation, we would not want to make any or as large a donation or transfer in the weeks where the paychecks were not present.
Now that a few weeks of no paychecks is looming upon us the time to prepare ahead of time is past.
We decided to take the unique opportunity of having both parents at home while caring for our newborn twins and their three siblings.