Ipseom

Archive for February, 2010

I knew someday I will marry and have children of my own.  I loved the idea of raising my children the way my parents reared me.  I am who I am because of my parents unconditional love.  I bought all sorts of toys to keep them all not only busy but continuously interested in playing, giving me ample time to do what a good mother and wife always do.

I gave them Creative Toys that were not only house friendly but also stimulated their imagination to draw  out potential skills that lay hidden in their young minds. For this they had crayons, coloring books, colored boxes and sticks to work on. There were all sorts of Outdoor Toys too that were more sturdy for rough play giving them the exercise they needed. To tickle their intellect as well, I made sure they had Educational Toys that went from story books, flash cards and magic slates etc. As they grew up, their attention span grew short so my husband and I thought of Games we could joy in.

Nobody is perfect but my husband and I am proud of all three.  My eldest son plays excellent chess.  My youngest son is my handy man when he comes visiting.  My only daughter is raising her two children like I did with them.

You can feel the cool breeze of the wind, it is again winter and everybody use warm clothes for personal protection against the weather.  My family always stays at home during winter season, we sit around by the blomus stainless steel fireplace set, it provide warm and welcome feeling to all who sit around, and you can assure for a clean fuel being use. The heat radiates outward but is insulated against the wall by the stainless steel’s reflective and insulating nature. It is rust and maintenance free aesthetic product that clearly represents our intended fit, form and function perspective and it adds harmony for the family bonding time.

We also sit around, drinking our favorite tea using our blomus stainless steel teaset, with its high quality and durability. The family has been using blomus stainless products for years; their products are protected to remain bright and shiny even after decades of use. If you want to try their other products like the blomus stainless steel firepit and others, just search net and find out for yourself, how durable their product are made and very affordable and reasonable price. Their products come with a detailed instruction manual and safety instructions and guaranteed against manufacturer defect.

So what now? It’s time to figure out whether your spending and investing lines up with the values, dreams, and financial goals you’ve just identified. A good way to do this is by cracking your family’s expenses for the next month. Save every bill and every receipt, even for a doughnut or a newspaper. At the end of the month, group those receipts and bills into categories and add up the totals so you can see exactly where your money went. (Computer software programs such as Quicken and Microsoft Money can help you track your finances, and if you don’t use one of these programs, it might be worth considering.) If the numbers reflect your values and are helping you achieve your dreams and goals, that’s great. If they don’t, you’ll want to make some adjustments. Maybe you can forgo the muffin and cappuccino every morning, thereby saving hundreds of dollars a year (and who knows how many calories). Or maybe you’ll want to brown-bag your lunch, cut back on some of those premium cable stations, or buy one less pair of shoes a season.
You’ll want to evaluate your investments in the same way. The question to always keep in mind is whether your choices support your values, dreams, and goals—in short, whether they support your current lifestyle as well as the lifestyle you’d like to achieve.
Once you’ve delineated what’s important to you and your family, checked your spending, and started to invest, you’ll want to review your progress periodically in light of any life or market changes, to make sure that your plan is still meeting your ever-changing needs. Equally important will be to make sure that those long-term dreams are still viable, as new goals often require a new game plan.

If the whole idea of dealing with money and making financial decisions makes you or your partner nervous, remember that you’ve both engaged in a lot of this money-related activity
before—every time you’ve made a budget or comparison rove shopped for a big-ticket item. You can do this, no matter how inadequate you’re feeling right now. It’s like learning to swim. Once you get the basics down— and your confidence up—it’s really not that hard. And like swimming, knowing how to deal with your money is a critical survival skill—one that you can master. “After my divorce, I was terrified that I wasn’t going to be able to take care of myself,” says Lauren, a single mom in her forties who had no experience handling her personal finances. Her ex-husband had taken care of everything. It took years for her to get up to speed—but she finally managed. “I started investing for my retirement so late that I felt it would take a miracle for me not to have to work the rest of my life,” she adds. “The miracle turned out to be me.”

There are probably as many money styles as there are fashion styles. Of course, this doesn’t come as much of a surprise when you factor in the different influences that shape each of us. The irony, of course, is that when it comes to money-related tendencies, opposites frequently attract. Pete and Eleanor are a perfect example. So don’t be surprised if you and your partner find each other diametrically opposed. Instead of sweeping those differences under the rug or fighting about them, try discussing them. Once you and your family have talked about your values—and started to articulate your dreams and goals—your next step is to examine more closely your feelings about money and decide how involved you want to be when managing your finances. Your money style can be tracked on two continuums. First, you’re either a spender or a saver, or you’re a bit of both, which means you fall somewhere in between. I admit that I get a charge out of going shopping. Just ask my husband, Gary. “Like a runner’s high, Carrie gets a shopper’s high,” he says with a smile. Still, my commitment to my family dictates that the money I spend never cuts into our budget for other things, our savings, our investments, our vacations, or anything else that’s important. We save and invest as much as we can every month. That comes first, no matter what. So I’m definitely both a saver and a spender at heart.
It’s necessary to balance those opposing tendencies when you are constantly confronted by the question “to buy or not to buy?” In Chapter 2 we talk more about how to spend your money so you wind up buying what you and your family really need, while not scrimping on investing. For now, whenever you’re in doubt, just remember that keeping a long-range perspective about what’s important to you and your family will usually steer you clear.