Post # 1
Member
34 posts
Newbee
Saving for a wedding is not high on the priority list for most people and that not a huge surprise for most. My daughter is 10 and told me that (just like I did at her age) her wedding is already planned in her head. Well my first response was before you get married what do you want to be when you grow up. She shocked the you know what outta me you guys when she said an interior designer. Just like that!! She told me that her wedding will be the wedding to end all weddings. LOL I asked how she would pay for it and she asked why I don’t have a wedding fund for her. I told her that with saving for her college fund and maybe getting her a car one day that it just wasn’t possible. Being the old woman she thinks she is, she asked if I could go a day without a latte, or maybe we as a family could not eat out as much. My daughter is such a sweet little girl and in her mind it’s all mind over matter. I wish my mama could have saved up for my upcoming wedding and I thought if I started a wedding jug. (put change in maybe an old water cooler jug) and deposit it every time it got full my little girl really could have the wedding to end all weddings. She said she wants to be succesful and happy and just a good person, and that she wants to love her husband like I love her dad. How sweet is that? It’s not important to most to save for a wedding but now it’s a little higher up on my list, because of my little girl. By The Way GET THIS SHE WANTS TO WEAR MY DRESS!!!!!!!!! I’M TOO EMOTIONAL
Post # 3
Member
7300 posts
Busy Beekeeper
@mzb2be: Aww, so sweet. If you want to start saving now, I suggest either getting bonds or open a high yield savings account. My daughter is 4 now and I have been getting her $20 bonds every month since she was born. They are in a safety deposit box. Also I have a high yield savings account that I have been putting $10 in every month. I won’t hound her to go to college right after high school. I didn’t. I wasn’t ready and instead I spent two years traveling and having fun. By that time I knew what I wanted to do. If I went right after high school, it would have been a waste of time and money for everyone involved.
She is right though. I had a Starbucks addiction and when I broke it down, I was going twice a day for 5 days a week. That’s about $10 a day on coffee and coffee cake. $50 a week. $2600 a year on effing Starbucks. Now I don’t drink it and at the end of the week I transfer $50 out of my account and put it into my high yield savings account for the wedding.
Post # 4
Member
34 posts
Newbee
@Miss Tattoo:Thanks for the input and me and the FH will def. be going to our bank to talk to them about different savings accounts and bonds. I’m really wondering why I didn’t think of that at first. She is such a great girl and in addition to the savings she already has I think a wedding fund couldn’t hurt. My friends think that it’s just not smart to open a wedding account but I wish that more of us could do it. It would just make that part of her life a little simpler. If my mother could have saved up for mine I know she would have and I wouldn’t be trying to budget so tightly with my wedding. I don’t need a huge lavish gala but it would be nice just to be able to get the things for my wedding that I want without having to worry about money.
Post # 5
Member
615 posts
Busy bee
This is really cute :-). You have a very special little girl :-). Also, great job starting a college fund! College is so important and will take her many places :-). You sound like a wonderful mother.
Post # 6
Member
7300 posts
Busy Beekeeper
The way I think about it, $20 a month is not that much. I mean, I was willing to give up Starbucks and eating out. We only go out once a month now and we are saving hundreds. Instead of spending it on something else, we save it.
http://www.mint.com is awesome at setting up a monthly budget and making you stick to it. It sends alerts to my phone when I am close to a budget. Like if I say I’m going to have a $400 budget for groceries and I am at $390 before the month is over, it send me an email letting me I am close to it and that way I can plan with what I have instead of going over. You would be surprised what you can make with $10 that will last days. Cowboy stew is so good and gets better every day it’s in the freezer. We made a months worth before. It’s a really good meal in the winter and all you need is ground beef, potatoes, corn, tomatoes, corn bread, ect.
Post # 7
Member
3587 posts
Sugar bee
Wow, she’s quite smart-leave out the lattes a little.LMAO!
I don’t have any kids, but I have a CD for their college fund for when I do have some..one day!
Post # 8
Member
34 posts
Newbee
@Corykru:Thanks a lot! She knows that she doestn’t have to go right after highschoo but she also knows that she at least has to try it out. If it doesn’t seem like a good fit then we (she, her father, and I) will look into other avenues. But with the way she deocrates everything around here I’m sure she’s going! Now that I mention it I really should post some pics of her room when it’s done. She really has a great eye for fashion!
Post # 9
Member
34 posts
Newbee
@MsMamaBear:WOW! You’re gonna rock as a mom, you’ve already stated what so many people wait til the last minute for. I only started hers when she was five but I’m hoping by the time she graduates at 17 we will have a nice amount save up.
Post # 10
Member
5823 posts
Bee Keeper
Just saw an article on Yahoo yesterday about people who have paid off a large amount of debt in a very short amount of time. But you could apply the money to a CD instead and yield the same result:
http://financiallyfit.yahoo.com/finance/article-111092-7153-1-how-they-paid-off-big-debt-in-a-few-short-years?ywaad=ad0035&nc
Post # 11
Member
34 posts
Newbee
@Miss Tattoo:Girrrrrrrrllllll please!! I am the stew and cassarole queen round here baby! LMAO My family is always so surprised because a lot of my recipies came about when I was in college and had to come up with meals that would last a few days at least. My girlfriend and I had our kids over to her house one night while studying and we had forgotten that other than a snack they hadn’t had dinner. Well, some egg noodles, a pack of hamburger, and some italian dressing were enough to make a meal that our kids still ask for to this day (this happened back in 04) I like to keep older married women as friends and they always are a HUGE help when it comes to feeding a family on a budget. However having said that I’ve never had cowboy stew send me some info and knowing me I’ll be cooking it for dinner tomorrow!
Post # 12
Member
34 posts
Newbee
@MightySapphire:Thanks for the info, I’ll be sure to look into this! I believe this is along the lines of what Miss Tattoo was telling me about. You guys are always full of great info on this site!
Post # 13
Member
145 posts
Blushing bee
@mzb2be: you are such a great mom to have raised a strong opinionated daughter! i love it!! and all of you ladies are AWESOME and so very inspirational! thanks for making me seriously rethink my careless spending habits!!
Post # 15
Member
7300 posts
Busy Beekeeper
@mzb2be: There are soooo many ways to make it. When SO gets home, I will ask him for the way he makes it. I know some people use sasuage. Some people use stew meat. We use ground beef. Some people put bake beans in it. lol There are just hundreds of ways. I will mesage you.
We also know how to eat on a budget. When we were younger, we were living off of $20 a week for food. Lots of crock pot meals were had.
CD’s are great for long term. Wehave our money in a high yield savings for the wedding because it gains 1.75% APR and we don’t have to wait a long time for that to accumulate.
At the start it’s really hard to go through your spending, but mint.com makes it easy to see where every penny is going. SO use to eat Subway for lunch everyday. $5 sub turns into $8 meal with chips and a drink. Now he packs his lunch the night before.
Post # 16
Member
1335 posts
Bumble bee
@mzb2be: You sound like a great mom with an amazing little girl. So sweet that you’re going to start a wedding fund.
I love that everyone on this board is so fiscally responsible. Gives me a lot of good ideas on how to get smarter with money. Thanks 🙂
