Take it from Charlie Brown-Celebrations don't have to be expensive

The holiday season is all but upon us and many parties and events will soon be planned. This is when I like to follow the good sense that Charlie Brown had when he passed on all of the commercialized glitz and stuck with purchasing the real little tree for his Christmas pageant.

Holiday events do not have to "break the bank" when it comes to being successful. Be creative and engage guests in activities that make them feel important.

The Burlington Business Association has started their holiday planning. Check out their ideas for creating a successful event: http://bbaintern.blogspot.com

I'll conclude with this one final thought, planning ahead is the best way to approach all aspects of the holidays. If you wait until the last minute, it's easy to overspend to compensate for a lack of time to shop and create.

A budget-friendly way to fitness

One of the many excuses that people use for not getting into shape is not having enough money to join a health and fitness club. If you are truly interested in getting into shape and keeping your financial budget in line, check out the new philosophies of Fitness Independence where the mission is to help people get fit without having to go to the gym: http://fitnessindepence.blogspot.com/

Many times our spending habits are created from sheer boredom. If we get bored, we may take a ride to the mall or get online to shop. Becoming engaged in fun, physical activities can strengthen our bodies and our wallets.

Tightening your belt by using your checkbook

After reading my title you may be thinking, how do you reduce spending by using your checkbook? Aren't you spending money when you are writing checks or using a debit card? Absolutely; however there is a huge benefit to using your checkbook when paying for items; you have a wonderful record of how much money you spend, where you spend it and when you spend it. This is invaluable information when you are trying to get a handle on spending habits or if you need to reduce spending.

At various times when faced with questions that might change my financial situation such as switching careers, taking on new debt or dealing with the rising costs of living, I take out my checkbook and I browse through my register to see where I have been spending money. From my review I make two lists: one of the obligations that are set in stone, like my mortgage and car payments and the other list is made up of all of the other payments that I made that reflected purchases where I could control the costs, or maybe not make the purchase at all.

By doing this little exercise, I'm always a little surprised by how much I've spent or overspent in one area or another such as groceries, clothing or entertainment. If it is time for me to tighten my belt these are a few areas where cutbacks can easily be made. Other areas for saving money may include services that are no longer necessary or may be reduced like phone services or television services.

So if you are concerned about financial changes or if you just want to find opportunities to save, get out your checkbook and use it to review your spending records. It's a great first step for getting to know about your finances firsthand.

Never too young to start saving

With the holidays right around the corner, it's the perfect time to bring your child, grandchild, niece or nephew to the bank to open their first savings account. If they already have a savings account, but don't know it, it would be a great time to make them an active account owner by showing them the statement and letting them make their own deposits. Learning to save at an early age promotes learning of basic money management skills.

If you are looking to open a kid's savings account, shop around. Some banks offer special accounts and savings programs for children to make it easier to get started like Community National Bank's Totally Kids Club. It's very common for kids to receive gifts of money during the holidays, for birthdays and other special occasions. These gifts of money can also be used to start up an account, giving kids another option for their money instead of handing it all over at the nearest mall or big box store.

Now obviously, trying to get kids to save every penny, is going to make saving money seem like a pretty boring concept, especially when the kid next door just went out a bought the latest, greatest "whatchamacallit". So, I would suggest trying the save, spend and share method. Basically, the kids and parents set up a practice of budgeting the money in three categories, for example out of $50.00, the plan might be to save $38.00, spend $8.00 and share $3.00 with a local charity like the humane society or the local food shelf. This method is a great way to satisfy the goals of building a savings account, being able to purchase items for immediate satisfaction and to learn the importance of giving back to the community. It's a win,win, win situation!

Common Cents

I have worked in the financial services industry for 20 years, so I’ve been exposed to a lot of good information pertaining to banking services and money management. I’ve also been taking care of my family’s personal household finances for the same length of time.

Now, this by no means, makes me an expert in financial matters, but I am somewhat well informed, or at least have access to great resources if I need to learn about money issues.

I live in a small community and many people know what I do for work. Often family, friends and neighbors ask me questions about banking or money, and we have great conversations about various financial topics. For years, I have heard hundreds of comments expressing the need for financial education. A big part of an education program is to build awareness, sometimes through very general ideas (which I plan to post on this blog) that can turn into further in-depth investigation.

The title of my blog really speaks to everything that I will be posting on this site. A compilation of common everyday questions, practices and issues that I have encountered that relate to money. The range of topics will vary significantly, since money is tied to almost everything at some basic level.