Saturday, October 13, 2012

Guest Post from The Simple Mummy

Hi, I’m the simple mummy.

Tiffany asked me if I wanted to do a guest blog and I have to tell you I was a little excited and nervous at the same time. I’m a young mum like Tiff, I have 3 young boys and I’m currently baking number 4 (I wondered why she wasn’t crazy trying to survive four kids, and now I’m trying to do the same).
Raising children it a great life experience and sometimes it can prove to be a hard task, I mean bills come in, school fees a due, someone loses a jumper in the middle of winter and before you know it you could slammed with an unexpected turn of events.

It happens all the time, and every time we’re never prepared for it. No matter what your age or how many kids you have we all end up with a ‘rough’time at some point.
A shake up it the family household can affect everyone even the littlest members of your family. It can be rough, depending how long your circumstances need to change for so how do you help your family through these times?

It’s simple, practice.

I know your thinking is she mad; I don’t want to practice sending my family through a stressful time. Often we don’t think simple exercises can help our families. Trial this impossible task for a week, see what you can learn as a family by living like you have no money.

You can avoid shops, schedule some family activities that just involve being together (dust off an old family board game), learn to decline offers or sales because you probably don’t need anything, re-evaluate items in your cupboards, garage or spare rooms. Sell off what you haven’t used within 12 months and learn to appreciate the things you have and utilise it.
See how you go, all spending a week at home away from shops, bake together, laugh together and spend no money. Educate yourself on what you can accomplish with no money so when you’re struck with such financial stress you can nip it in the butt and turn that negative family experience into a great bonding time.

It’s not a bad thing to survive financial chaos; it’s a building block in your life. It shows how hard you and your family can work to achieve great success. If you don’t have an emergency fund, start now.
Even if you’re chucking your spare change into tin, keep it there. Try taking a couple of dollars out of your pay straight away and putting it in another account, or if you’re afraid another account will attract your own interest in spending it take $5 a week aside and put it in an envelope. Keep it somewhere safe; away from every member of the family so just you know where it is. Back in the day I taped my emergency fund to the roof of my wardrobe, every day my husband hung up our clothes and never noticed that little envelope but it always saved the day when we thought we had nothing.

Life throws everyone a hard ball we just have to figure out a way to catch it. Trailing mini exercises of restraint might not be your idea of a great family activity but it’s great to help you prepare for such an event. Who knows try a week or two here and there and you could free up some cash to put towards a family activity together or just save in for a just in case emergency fund. I’m in the middle of my own trial ‘No spend month’ in preparation for the Christmas period, every dollar my family saves we’re putting it towards things that are eating up our income right now. You would be surprised with how much money you could potentially save with a simple exercise of pretending you have no money. All the best with your financial journey, don’t forget to check out my blog or Facebook page.

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