Family and Parenting: Information For Families

You are special. You are the head of the household, you make a living for your family and you always seem to give your paycheck to everyone except yourself. There is a challenging thread that weaves through this concept. The idea that we pay for doctor visits, food, babysitters, mortgage, and our Sister-in-law’s birthday gift before we even get to consider “paying” ourselves. By paying ourselves, I mean the notion that we may actually have a few dimes to rub together for a savings account after everything else is paid for and covered.

This is the worst concept ever considered by the working-class bill-payer. How would you or anyone else expect to have anything left-over for savings if you waited until you considered paying everyone else in the free world first? There is no logic in this; you will never be able to save any significant amount of money this way. It is logically impossible. The general consensus is that once you begin to pay bills you consider every aspect of what is going on in your life simultaneously. First you pay the most important bills first; food, mortgage, electric, ECT. Then you have to tend to the babysitter, the credit card collectors, and the internet and cable TV. Of course there is the wife’s Pilates group, the eating out expenses, and then there are the
anniversary/birthday presents you have to cover in the next two weeks. How could anyone even consider saving anything at this rate? They couldn’t.

The point here is that you need to step up for yourself, and the future of your family, and learn how to Pay Yourself First. Give yourself an allowance. Before you receive your next paycheck write down what your saving goals are. What do you want and how quickly do you want it? Do you want money for retirement or just for a vacation next year? Figure up the numbers and then divide that by the amount of time in which you wish to obtain it.

Then when the big day comes (your next paycheck) cash that check with enthusiasm, knowing that the first person to receive money for you Is You! You deserve to own your own money; what a better plan than to have savings ready and available for your next vacation, or an unexpected situation. Once you realize the timeline that you have to work with you can learn to ration out the rest of your checks into portions. No more throwing your money to others without making sure that you are paying your own allowance.