Raising a child to age 18 can cost more than a quarter of a million dollars, according to government estimates. It's important to manage your finances. As a parent, you'll become an expert in explaining coins and allowance to your preschooler, negotiating a clothes budget with your tween, and saving enough to send your teenager to college.
Thursdays are thrifty here at the About Working Moms blog. On Thrifty Thursday, I feature a set of money saving tips or ideas for tightening your household budget. Please feel free to contribute your own advice for Thrifty Thursday.
Do you have thrifty living tips to help other moms save money? Please share your thrifty tips, and read free thrifty tips from other readers.
Do I have to pay nanny taxes? It's a question many working parents ask. Generally the answer is yes, you must pay nanny taxes to comply with federal law. But there are a few exceptions that may allow you to avoid paying nanny taxes.
Parents worried about paying for a child's college education are often steered to a 529 account. But 529 accounts aren't for everyone. In fact, there are 5 good reasons to avoid opening a 529 college savings account for your child. This article will help you decide if a 529 account is a mistake for your college saving needs.
Don't pay an overpriced nanny tax service to fill out your W-2 and W-3 forms! Follow these simple, free instructions to pay the nanny tax yourself. If you pay the same adult babysitter $35 or more a week, you must pay the nanny tax. Not only is it illegal to dodge the nanny tax, it costs your child's caregiver future Social Security and Medicare benefits.
Cheap gifts often seem so, well, cheap. But your loved ones don't really want you to bust your budget buying an extravagant present. Sure, it can take more time and effort to find perfect, cheap gifts for everyone on your list. But you may find that the recipients are just as happy - or more so - with cheap gifts.
Money saving tips so often sound difficult and no fun. But you can save money without making yourself or your family miserable. Here are some money saving tips for working moms that will keep a smile on your face. There’s no better time than now to start saving money.
If you're the parent of a newborn or young child, you've probably heard the depressing estimate of the cost of a college education when your child is ready to enter college 18 years from now. The cost of four years in a public college is expected to cost in excess of $100,000; a private school, over $200,000. What's a parent to do?
While kids typically learn about money and its value at school (and sometimes at daycare), how to manage money happens at home. Providing your kids with an allowance is a great tool for creating early understanding about the concept of money.
How do kids learn about money? It doesn't happen by osmosis or at school. They have to be taught these principles and allowed to practice them (on an appropriate scale) from an early age. How will you teach your children to be more financially successful, avoid living from paycheck to paycheck, and steer clear of crippling credit card debt?
If you considered only the financial implications of having children, you might end up childless. As with any other decision that will impact your financial situation, it's smart to go into it with your eyes wide open and to be prepared. The changes that accompany adding a new little member to your family can be stressful, but you can reduce the stress greatly by minimizing the financial factor.
You're in college, so it's too early to be thinking of having a personal financial plan. That's for after you graduate and you're making the big bucks, right? Unfortunately, many college graduates who believe this start their new lives after graduation weighed down with debt that often follows them for the rest of their lives. Now is the time to make sure that you don't start down that road.
