If you are a stay at home mom, you can take control of your household financial management and play a vital role in having a financial stability at home. This would reduce the money related stress and tension usually found in families where the financial management is not given much importance.
Managing household finances don’t need an educational background in finance or accounting. Some of you might fear financial management as you think you don’t have proper training or expertise in this field. However, there are several free resources at your service to give you the complete control and confidence you need to manage your family’s finances. These resources and the tips mentioned below make the daunting task of household financial management very easy and understandable for the stay at home moms.
Budget Planning
As a stay at home mom, this is the first step in giving yourself and your family a solid financial foothold and a clear picture of what your money spending habits are and what are your prime expenses. There are several free apps like Goodbudget, Mint and BudgetSimple which allow you to set a monthly budget, track your expenses, give you an expense breakdown in different categories and subcategories, and track you saving goals. They also have options to send you alerts when you are making a big purchase or exceeding the spending limit set by you, as well as reminders for the upcoming bills.
Debt Clearing
If you have a debt on your family’s shoulder, as a stay at home mom you should have a stable debt repayment plan. Apps like Ready for Zero help you in constructing a debt repayment plan based on the total debt you owe and the targeted debt-free date. It can directly link to your bank accounts and offers the option to notify you of your credit score if there are any changes. Additionally, financial calculators like these form Bankrate, and these form CNNMoney can assist you in understanding the impacts of the financial decisions you make.
Money Saving Tools
As a stay at home mom, you can have a great impact on the bigger picture of your family’s financial health by taking small everyday steps to save money.
Eating out at restaurants or going for convenience foods take a big bite out of any family’s budget. However, with some planning this big cost can be reduced. At websites like Say Mmm you can plan your meal menus, create organized shopping lists and find great recipes. Also, minor changes like brewing coffee at home instead of daily purchasing from café and replacing soda with water are not only good for your health but for your bank balance also.
For shopping, being a stay at home mom you should create a habit of collecting and using coupons. They come in mail and are available abundantly online on sites like RetailMeNot.com. Also, on some websites like Freecycle, you are connected with a community of people who are willing to give away things that you need for free; these things vary from books to furniture.
Side Income
Small side income can do great wonders in helping a stay at home mom to lessen the family’s financial burden. There are multitude of options available like doing online freelance jobs for anything like writing, translating or IT programming on websites like Elance and Odesk, or starting up your online business store on Ebay for things that you don’t need or that you can find at cheaper rates at thrift stores or garage sales.
Retirement Planning
Although your husband’s retirement might be many decades ahead, the decisions taken today by you will dictate how your future life will be. This planning is very important to set up for things like your child’s college education fund. It is very important to create goals and then work backwards to determine how much of savings is required every month now for a smoother sailing after retirement. Online calculators like at AARP are very helpful in establishing such plans. Forbes also offers a well-rounded list of additional calculators. Also, don’t miss checking out the Social Security Administration website to see how they will assist you in those years.
Final Thoughts
Managing family’s financial matters can appear to be very scary and daunting. However, answers to most of the problems that you will face or the topics about which you need more understanding are easily available online. The only thing required is a little bit of dedication and interest in looking for those answers. With so many resources at your fingertips, you will have the ability to have a clear idea of your family’s present financial situation and you will be able to take steps to improve it for the better future of your family; thereby eliminating the unnecessary stress in your household.