Posts for August 2011
Back to School Time is Really Time to Move Forward
By Jayne Berkaw
Ah, the joys of back-to-school time. As an “older” parent, I reflect back to the feelings of sadness that summer was almost over and wanting to have more time with my kids. Then, for some reason, about a week before school bells rang, some random mom-switch was flipped and I simply couldn’t wait to get them out of the house and back into a routine.
I know other moms who’ve experienced this mom-switch syndrome, but whether you can relate or not, there’s no denying that back-to-school time is about making transitions. Schedules, extracurricular activities, homework, new teachers, new friends, carpools, books, supplies, clothes…it’s time to pull up our socks and get moving again!
Transitioning to a new school year presents renewed opportunity to:
Add Age-Appropriate Responsibilities
- Younger kids might set out their school clothes before bed every night, sort dirty clothes, fold clean ones and put them away, clear dinner dishes, etc.
- Middle-schoolers can take inventory of their clothes, make a list of needs and wants (they are different), prioritize them and then tackle the shopping on their own. Same for school supplies; this encourages pre-planning and organization.
- High schoolers on the cusp of adulthood are ready to begin getting a flavor for the concept of “earning your keep.” There’s nothing like money earned from a part-time job babysitting, serving burgers, packing groceries, etc. to charge up one’s sense of self sufficiency.
- For all ages, remember to encourage independence by letting them do as much as possible on their own and giving them lots of congrats when they do.
Stress Achievement by Setting Goals
Get an easy-going chat going with your child on what they want to accomplish during the coming year. Does she want to sign up for a school sports team, does he want improve his reading skills, be in a school play, sign up for debate team? Does he want to save for a new skateboard; does she want to have extra money for an occasional movie outing? Have each child prepare a list of their goals, and then…
Get Organized for Success
Goals are no good if you don’t keep track of them and adopt a strategy for success. Devise a chart, or better yet, set up a FamilyMint account, to get those goals down and keep track of progress. Talk with your child about what steps need to be taken to make progress toward realizing each one. If it’s involvement in a new sport, it means getting necessary equipment and regular practice or lessons. If it’s a new skateboard, investigation into the styles and features will be important, as well as a part-time job or extra chores to earn money to cover the costs. Within FamilyMint, you can set up a special skateboard savings “account” and visually chart your progress, a nice feature for today’s visual, virtual kids.
Every chance to refresh for success is a good one, so take advantage of the start of a new school year to excite your family’s enthusiasm for all the possibilities that “back-to-school” season offers.
Copyright Back to School Time is Really a Time to Move Forward © 2011. All rights reserved
Story of Goldilocks and the 3 Imitation Bear Skin Rugs
Story of Goldilocks and the 3 Imitation Bear Skin Rugs*
By Bob Masterson
Once upon a time there was a girl named Goldilocks in search of a new imitation bear skin rug for her room. She had worked hard to save up $500 for this purchase. The first rug Goldilocks looked at was by the famous designer, L’bear. L’bear’s rugs were all the rage, but with a hefty price tag of $1,000, it was much more than Goldilocks had saved. But it was so soft and luxurious!. “Of course,” she thought, “I could just charge it. Just think of what all my friends would say when they found out I had a genuine L’bear rug of my own.”
But not wanting to make a rash decision as she worked hard for her money, Goldilocks decided to look at a couple more rugs. The next rug she looked at was made by Fuzzy Wuzzy in a country far, far away that was not known for making the best quality products. This rug was only $200, far below her budget and thus very tempting to purchase. The rug was not as soft as the L’bear rug and the back of the rug seemed much thinner as well. “But the rug is only $200,” thought Goldilocks, “think of all the money I’m saving and what else I could purchase with the difference.”
Of course there was still one more rug to look at before Goldilocks made her decision. This rug was made by Grizzly, a well known reputable rug manufacturer that had always been ranked high in quality. The Grizzly rug felt soft and luxurious like the L’bear rug, seemed very well made and at $495 this rug was within her budget.
Now Goldilocks had to make a decision on which rug she was going to purchase. Should she purchase the famous L’bear designer rug that was double what she wanted to spend, but would greatly improve her status among all her friends? Reflecting on this Goldilocks thought to herself, “It’s not worth the extra debt I would be getting myself into for the brief thrill of showing off a L’bear designer rug.” So she crossed that one off her list.
Next she reflected on the Fuzzy Wuzzy rug and all the money she could be saving. She could even buy two rugs at that price. The temptation to purchase a lesser quality rug for the savings was great. But thinking back to her mother’s wisdom of “you get what you pay for,” Goldilocks thought better and did not purchase the Fuzzy Wuzzy rug. Besides, Goldilocks said to herself, “Fuzzy Wuzzy was an imitation bear that tended to lose its hair and even with great care, she’d be forced to buy a new one in a year.”
So turning to the Grizzly rug, Goldilocks proclaimed “This imitation rug is just right!” and made the wise purchase taking into consideration quality, reputation and price and lived happily ever after.
The moral of the story is…money takes a lot of hard work to earn so we want to make that money work hard for us. Making thoughtful decisions in purchasing the things we want or need will save us money and headaches down the road. Buying something because it’s cheap will often make you weep, and to purchase to impress never works out for the best. Most often paying a reasonable price for good quality will pay for itself in the long run.
*No real bears were harmed in the creation of this story
Copyright Story of Goldilocks and the 3 Imitation Bear Skin Rugs © 2011. All rights reserved
The 5 Secrets to Help Your Kids Achieve Their Goals
“Did you know that an astounding 97% of the population does not take the time to set goals?” This was a question I asked in my post last week (http://www.familymint.com/the-secret-of-setting-goals). That post raised the larger question of: How do we know the right goals to set?
The secret behind these 5 secrets is that they aren’t just for kids. Leaders of Fortune 500 companies go through the same thought process during annual strategic planning as well as their daily priority setting. Start forming these habits now in easy, small ways and you’ll be giving your kids quite a leg up in the world!
Secret #1: Create a Vision
A vision is a picture for what you want to achieve in life. What would make life exceptional and wonderful? For your kids, there will likely be some longer term things like going to college or getting a car, and some shorter term things like games and entertainment or giving back to those in need. Ask your kids to take some time to think about this for themselves and write down what they see. Have them make a collage using pictures from magazines and newspapers to describe their vision. Have fun with this! This can be an eye-opening experience for both of you.
Secret #2: Plan steps to achieve the vision
Take the vision and break it down into separate goals. Some of the vision will require money to achieve it (e.g. go to college) and some may not (e.g. improve my ability to make people laugh). We’ll track those goals that require savings within FamilyMint.
Secret #3: SMART Goals
If you don’t write goals down, you probably won’t achieve them. There are other rules about goals too that we remember with the acronym SMART. Goals in FamilyMint are SMART! That is:
- S = Specific. If your child is saving for a video game, ideally have them write down specifically which video game they want.
- M = Measurable. Once we know which video game we’re saving for, write down the cost to acquire it. Is it $5 or $50?
- A = Achievable. A goal like buying a video game is easily achievable given a little bit of time and focus. A goal of being the richest person in the world? Not achievable (or desirable!) for most of us.
- R = wRitten. We’re strong believers that a goal that remains unwritten in a goal that most likely will not be achieved. There is magic in the simple act of writing down a goal.
- T = Time-framed. Does your child want the video game next week or next year? One may require going out and finding ways to earn money tomorrow, and the other just saving a few cents a week.
Secret #4: Do something every day
Encourage your kids to do something every day, no matter how small, to work toward their goals. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Doing something every day is a great way to build the awareness, discipline, and endurance to actually achieve our larger goals. Every day they work toward their goal is a small victory in achieving that goal.
Secret #5: Measure progress and update as necessary
This is the biggest secret of them all. “What gets measured gets done” is one of my favorite sayings. FamilyMint provides status bars to show progress over time. Have your kids pay attention to what’s working and what’s not. Don’t be afraid of failure, or of success. If they are not making progress, change something, and try again.
As adults in today’s economy, most of us are overwhelmed and tired and we don’t spend any time on this exercise ourselves. We are too busy and don’t take the time to sit down and create a vision for our own exceptional life. Part of the problem is we didn’t learn these habits in a simple way as children. The great news is it’s never too late—or too early—to start!
Copyright © 2011. All rights reserved
Amazon Mom
We learned of a new program Amazon recently launched called Amazon Mom. In the spirit of sharing great ways to save money we thought we’d share it with you. Here are the details:
- It’s free.
- You get 3 months of Amazon Prime shipping, and for every $25 you spend in the Baby Store, you get an extra month of Prime shipping (up to a year).
- It’s not just for moms. Anyone that has kids (mom, dad, grandparent, etc.) can join.
- 30% off diapers & wipes (if you sign up for subscribe & save)
- Some other benefits of a full paid Amazon Prime account like instant streaming videos are not included.
We love Amazon and this seems like a pretty good deal. We’ve tried Amazon Prime in the past and, although it can be addictive to get stuff shipped in just 2 days, we didn’t find that we really had the urgent need for speed enough to pay for it. However, add some sweet discounts through Amazon Mom and make it free… and it’s worth another try!
See more details and sign up here:
Amazon Mom
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.Copyright © 2011. All rights reserved
The Secret of Setting Goals
By Jeff Eusebio
It’s an amazing fact, but the simple act of setting a goal is the most important step in accomplishing it. It’s that tiny first baby step, but it’s absolutely required and it sets everything else in motion.
When I was in college, one of my professors had us write down 5 goals to accomplish during the semester, then hide them away in a sealed envelope. I completely forgot about the exercise so at the end of the semester, when he had the class reopen our envelopes, I was completely amazed that I had achieved 3 out of the 5 goals I had written down! Even though I had not referred back to the list, the very act of writing down the goals had made them real enough in my own mind that subconsciously I set about to achieve them. The purpose of the exercise wasn’t, of course, to teach us to set goals and hide them away, but to show us the power of the goal setting process.
FamilyMint allows your children to set the kind of goals that money can buy. This is a great way for your children to get started on the road toward developing the goal setting habit. They can set multiple goals, estimate how long it will take them to achieve each one, and move money around as their priorities change. And of course, goals that money can buy are a place to get started, but these are only a launch pad for your child to set goals that money can’t buy, which are usually the goals that lead to long term happiness.
Did you know that an astounding 97% of the population does not take the time to set goals?
“The greatest danger for most of us in not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it” — Michelangelo
“The tragedy in life doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.” — Benjamin Mays
Set aside a few minutes today to think about and set some goals for yourself, and help your child set a few goals of their own.
Copyright The Secret of Setting Goals © 2011. All rights reserved