tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-694812251934989502.post5520185435195671586..comments2023-09-27T07:35:31.059-07:00Comments on Source: Sara: I Suck At FinancesSarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11258568148530013442noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-694812251934989502.post-38948083110392194512010-09-08T09:03:55.745-07:002010-09-08T09:03:55.745-07:00I struggle over the very same questions every day,...I struggle over the very same questions every day, as I have for years. Keep trying to simplify where possible, you've got so much on your plate.mornahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06286668905257731696noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-694812251934989502.post-86821015229930168052010-09-08T06:58:02.703-07:002010-09-08T06:58:02.703-07:00It took me a while to realize that I needed to pla...It took me a while to realize that I needed to plan some time for me to play/relax while my kids were playing/relaxing. Homeschooling is hard work for the parent-teacher and our brains get tired of the strain. I couldn't school my brain to do anything difficult during the homeschool breaks.<br /><br />I started bringing my homework (i.e. bills I had to pay or letters I had to write) to the homeschooling table. While my kids were thinking and working, I would demonstrate good work habits to them. Then I'd become a more active teacher and work with my daughter some more before giving her time to puzzle out the work assigned to her again while I worked on my work. In the time it took her to work on a problem or two by herself, I could get a bill or two paid or a thank you note written.<br /><br />I've taken this strategy with me while I've tutored other kids or volunteered in the schools as a way of creating an environment where people work and puzzle out what to do. It was easy for me to help the kids with every question but they didn't learn any independence and got very good at weaseling the answers out of me! Instead, we'd talk about the next few problems together but write nothing down, then we'd have work time where we'd do our work, then check our work together. <br /><br />This strategy only works if the group size is very small. For one or two students with similar skill sets, I could get this to work well. Once the skill sets differed or the number went up, my strategy fell out the window since I was spending Timmy's work time helping Tanisha and Tanisha's work time helping Juan, etc. Once that happened, I discovered automatic bill pay to do 95% of the boring work :-)Valoriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01861700479328908250noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-694812251934989502.post-25126878491349658312010-09-08T05:48:58.798-07:002010-09-08T05:48:58.798-07:00Our family has found that mint.com is a wonderful ...Our family has found that mint.com is a wonderful tool for getting our finances in order. We discovered it 2.5 years ago (before they got acquired by Intuit) about a month after we got married.<br /><br />The great thing is that it allow us two goals:<br />1. Easy access for both of us at all times. We didn't want finances to be just something that I did, but something that we both kept tabs on.<br /><br />2. An easy budget. We are lazy. Mint allows us to be lazy and keep tight track of our money. No messing with stacks of envelops, and it tracks everything from my student debt to our investments.Wilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01743949451147514205noreply@blogger.com