My kids are on summer break.  Usually I talk about it quite a bit leading up to the last few days of school.  I didn’t this year.  This year I was in denial that summer was coming.  I didn’t make one single plan.  Even on the last day of school I couldn’t get my head around the fact that school was done.

I wasn’t until the bus didn’t come at 8:10 the next day that I fully realized I was stuck with them.  :)

Our Plans

The Pool:  Classic stand by.  We will be at the pool as much as possible.  I know I say that every year, so we’ll see how it goes.  But I really do want to be up there as much as I can.  The kids love it and it’s totally free.  So what the heck.  Plus now that I have a smartphone it’s not totally boring.

The Movies:  Another classic.  Every year we sign up for the summer movie program.  For $21 my kids and I get to go to the movies once per week for the whole summer.  It’s at one set time per week and we have to see the movie of their choosing but it kills half a day by the time it’s said and done.  Plus we have a big group of friends that go, so it’s always fun.  I honestly don’t know if they do this in other parts of the country or just in places where you can’t go outside in the summer.  Most parents don’t have quite the trouble us Phoenix moms have since our kids can’t just “go outside and play” like they can in other parts of the country.  The movies are a good option when it’s 115 outside.

Bowling:  This one is new for us this year.  Two free games per day all summer long.  The kids are free and if my husband and I also want to bowl it’s $30 for the whole summer.  You do have to pay for bowling shoes, which are $5 per person.  So I bought the kids their own bowling shoes for $25 each.  I’m still debating if I’m going to be bowling or I’ll just sit it out.  Bowling shoes for adults are like $45.  Do I really care to bowl?  It’s going to cost me $75… $120 if hubby wants bowling shoes too.  The bonus is that we will be able to keep our shoes forever.  So we will get our use out of them.  Sigh.  I should probably do it but I haven’t pulled the trigger on that one yet.

Bloom:  There is a new “health and wellness” center (called Bloom) near us that has a neat program.  This is the most expensive summer distraction but I’ve already signed up.  I’ve never been in a “spa” in my whole life so I don’t know how they normally work but there are a bunch of “health and wellness” professionals that have all gotten together and work out of this one building.  They have a daycare there as well. For $80 a month you can use the daycare as much as you want as long as you stay on campus, which they have a very comfy wi-fi lounge which I plan to take full advantage of.  You also get a bunch of other perks like one free massage per month and unlimited free classes, like yoga and stuff.  You also get a $25 gift card for services in your birthday month, which my husband and I will both get.  But mostly I’m there for the wi-fi lounge.

That’s it!  That’s our summer entertainment program.  It should be an interesting summer! I’m actually looking forward to it.  It sure gets easier as the kids get older.  :)

I saw an article a while back that I thought was an amazingly scary and wonderfully inspiring way to celebrate a birthday.  On her 38th birthday she decided to do 38 random acts of kindness.

Sounds easy right?  It’s easy to be nice.  What’s so scary about that?

Well think about it.  It means doing stuff you don’t normally do.  It means stepping outside of your comfort zone.  That’s scary.  For example one of the things she did was to buy a gift card to a restaurant and then walk up to a table and give it to the people sitting there.  That sounds easy, but I know I would be totally nervous!

So I have something scary to announce.  It’s my birthday!!  I’m 35 today.  Why is that scary?  Because I want to commit to doing 35 random acts of kindness.  If you head over to the article her 38 items were all done in one day.  I’m not going to accomplish that because my birthday starts in 4 hours and I don’t have ideas as to what I want to do.  BUT I will keep track of them and follow up with what my random acts were.

Also, part of her article she also requested for her readers to do one random act of kindness in her honor on her birthday.  So I want to ask for the same thing!  If you could please do one act of kindness in celebration of my birthday I would be most grateful.  It doesn’t have to be anything big.  If you could also leave a comment here as to what your act was I would love it!

Here are some of the things others did:

• Pay the toll for the car behind
• Pay the order for the car behind in the drive through
• Drop off coloring books and toys in Labor and Delivery at the hospital for the older siblings
• Hand out balloons to kids shopping with their moms
• Buy a gift card to the grocery store and hand it to the person behind them
• Hand out quarters at the laundry mat
• Leave nice notes under windshield wipers

Let do some good people!!

Maybe I’m behind the times on this but I recently learned about Kiva.  I’d heard of it before but I didn’t know what it was.  Well, turns out that it’s a peer to peer lending site where you can lend money to small businesses all over the world.  Very cool.

I love the idea of peer to peer lending.  For those who don’t know, peer to peer lending is when regular people can lend money to other regular people through websites that facilitate such things.  You don’t have to loan the full amount that someone is asking.  You can chip in, say $25, towards the pool of money.  You get repaid little by little over the life of the loan, plus interest of course!

Not all states allow this kind of lending, and unfortunately for me Arizona is one of the states that does not allow it.  So I haven’t paid much attention since I learned that.  It’s kind of a sour grapes type thing at this point.  “eh… I can’t do it so it’s probably not that good anyways.”

Well!  I stumbled across Kiva the other day and not only can I play I also got a free $25 to lend!  Wohoo!  You can get a free $25 to lend too.  Just follow this link.  Do it now because they are on a first come first serve basis.  I get to see how many people signed up through my link and how many made loans.  Which will be really fun to watch so please do it.  No skin off your back since it’s free money and you get to help out a small business owner of your choosing.

You can help a guy in Armenia to buy a cow and four pigs to expand his farm.  Or you can help a group in Tanzania buy fruits and vegetables to replenish their stock for their market.  Or you can help a photographer right here in the US to upgrade her equiptment.  There are thousands of people on Kiva asking for help so they can help themselves.  Every story is worth reading.

Has anyone else out there lent money via Kiva?  What was your experience?

This article was brought to you by quick payday loans.

Life insurance isn’t sexy or fun but it is something you need to think about every few decades.  If you have someone in your life that depends on your income then you need life insurance.  Period.

How much life insurance do you need?  Well that depends on your situation.  The rule of thumb is 10 times your income, but I hate rules of thumb because they are a one size fits all solution.  And one size fits all is more accurately ”one size fits none”.  Sure I’d rather have you buy 10 times your income of protection than none at all, but is that really the best solution?

I’m going to do some calculations for a fake family.  Our fake family has a husband and wife and two kids, ages 5 and 8, a mortgage of $150,000, and consumer debt of $30,000.  How much life insurance do they need?

Here’s how to calculate how much life insurance you need:

Total debt + funeral costs + income replacement + college funds = Protection needs

Deciding on income needs:

Figure out your monthly budget as of right now.  Subtract all debt payments since those will be paid off with life insurance proceeds.  If the surviving spouse will continue to work then subtract their projected income from the monthly budget as well.  What is left over is the income needs per month for the surviving spouse.  You will want to do this for each spouse.  What will the wife need per month if the husband dies?  What will the husband need per month if the wife dies?

If the deceased spouse doesn’t work consider any additional hired help the surviving spouse may need.  Will the surviving spouse need to hire daycare or housekeeping services?  Add those into the monthly budget needs.

Ok, once you know how much each surviving spouse needs per month you will need to decide how long you want to provide the extra income?  Do you want to provide it for life or just til the youngest child is out of the house?  Or maybe even just until the youngest is in school full time?

Now it’s time to use this online calculator to help you determine the lump sum needed to provide the income for the stated amount of time.  To adjust for inflation you can reduce the assumed interest rate.  For example, let’s say you assume you will get 6% growth but will experience a 3% inflation rate.  You would subtract inflation from growth (growth-inflation) and enter an assumed growth of 3%.   Then play with the numbers until your results are what you are looking for.

For our fake family, we have decided that the wife will need $2,000 per month until the youngest child, age 5,  reaches 18.  So she will need income for 13 years.  If we assume a 6% growth with 3% inflation (3% net growth) the husband will need to carry $260,000 worth of income protection on his own life.  

We have also decided that if the wife were to die the husband would need $1,500 per month for the same time period.  So the wife will need to carry $195,000 of income protection on her life. 

Does that make sense?

Figuring out College Funding Needs

Do you want to provide college funds for your kids if you die prematurely?  Or a better question is will you provide college funds if you don’t die prematurely?  If so, the first thing you will want to know how much college costs.  You can use this calculator to help determine that.

Our fake family wants to send their kids to the state college down the street.  They expect to spend about $17,000 per year, per kid, in today’s dollars.  Of course there will be big time inflation in cost between now and when the kids enter college, which is why it’s important use the above calculator.  It will help determine what the costs will be when the time comes.

Once you know what your final costs will be head over to this calculator and figure out what your “starting amount” is.  This is the lump sum needed to invest right now to provide for college.  When deciding on your interest rate remember that inflation has already been accounted for, so enter what you think you will actually get.

Using the calculators we figure out that they need to invest basically $73,000 per kid right now for that to grow at 6% and pay for 100% of college costs.  So that’s a total of $146,000 in income protection needs. 

Why so much?  College costs are rising so fast.  You almost can’t grow your money faster than they raise tuition.  Paying for it monthly over time is easier than to pay for it with a lump sum.  At least you can stretch out the costs over 18 years instead of 4.

Now of course you don’t HAVE to provide for 100% of your child’s college education.  That’s a whole other story.

Ok, so where does that leave us?

Let’s go back to our life insurance equation.   Total debt + funeral costs + income replacement + college funds = Protection needs

Total debt = $180,000

Funeral Costs = $10,000

Income replacement = Wife; 195,000     Husband; 260,000

Education = 146,000

For a grand total of 531,000 on the wife and 596,000 on the husband.  

If you are having trouble calculating your insurance needs feel free to shoot me an email and I’d be happy to help.

My friends Vicki and Alan became debt free this week!!  I asked if they would do a little interview for this site and they graciously agreed.  Make sure to give them some congratulations in the comments.  They aren’t “professional” bloggers, like me (haha) so I’m sure they would love to see support and congrats from all over the world!

How much debt did you pay off and how long did it take?

Just under $37,000, and it took 13 1/2 months, or 58 weeks – sounds better!

What made you decide to become debt free? 

We had some friends of ours, Steve and Cynthia who were on it, and as Steve and Alan got to talking, Alan got more excited about it.  When he makes a goal, it is full steam ahead.  At first, I was merely a passenger in this adventure, because I was very passive in our finances.  Sure, I tried to cut back here and there, but I truly “got it” and got on board when I began listening to the Dave Ramsey archives.  Dave speaks with real people in every possible financial situation, and the patterns of success or failure with money became so clear.  So I then became more interested in what we have going on, and doing my part to meet the goal.  We make decent money, and when Alan added our consumer debt up on paper in black and white, we couldn’t believe the balance.  You don’t think about the TOTAL when all you have to think about every paycheck is the lovely little “payment”.  For us, the total was a real eye opener.

What was the most difficult part of the debt free journey? 

For me (Vicki) I’ve found that I want to share my new found knowledge with everyone and anyone.  I’ll find an opening in a conversation and throw out a “Better than I deserve” in response to a “How are you?” and see if it registers.  If not, it’s my chance to toss it out there.

We see so many people that could benefit from this methodical, basically “dummy proof” way to kick debt’s butt to the curb.  It’s like I just want to shake some people and say “YOU NEED THIS!”.  Getting no response or interest is like chasing a baby who wants to stay in their dirty diaper.

What was the best part? 

For me, I found the true blessing of delayed gratification.  I bought an $800 camera while this was going on.  We made it a goal and since I have $75 drafted into my savings every payday, I watched the balance creep up slowly, all the while knowing that I’d be paying cold hard cash for that big ticket item, and when it happened, I envisioned yelling “I’m paying cash!” as I walked out of Fry’s Electronics.  It is very liberating, and I just feel like I need to be and share inspiration for others, but it often falls on deaf ears.

There are so many good parts, here’s another.  Our daughter Rebeccalynn has lived every bit of this with us.  We pay her commission for the chores she completes.  She has a spending, saving and giving envelope.  Often, she will give more than we suggest to her giving envelope.  Her goal is to buy a big bag of dog food to give to the dog shelter.  We’ve also bought groceries for people at the store just as a random act of kindness.  Also, she has denied herself spending, as she’d rather have the cash than the item she was seriously pondering.  Ahhhh how satisfying!

Now, having no payments, we know that her college will be funded, and the house will be – notice I didn’t shay “should be” – paid off around the time she starts to drive.

Alan and I communicate even more about everything.  Now we can start to dream.  Next goal – check!!!

What did your friends and family think? 

We’ve had several people who are shocked and amazed and very openly supportive.  Others just kind of smile and nod.

Did you have any setbacks? 

Our $1,000 baby emergency fund was hit when Alan was rear ended by an uninsured driver and his pregnant teenage girlfriend.  So the $500 deductible came out of that.  More than that, we worried for this young couple who are starting out behind the eight ball by decisions they make.  Every decision has a cumulative effect on life!

What advice do you have to someone who is considering becoming debt free or just starting the journey? 

Do it!  Invest a tiny chunk in Financial Peace University at a location near you or the DVD lessons you can commit to doing every week in the comfort of your own home and schedule.  The inspiration will propel you!  Just seeing that first tiny debt gone, then the second, and so on is like being on a diet and seeing the scale go down every morning.  That alone keeps you on track.  The archives on www.DaveRamsey.com are what Alan and I did every day, simply because we looked forward to the life stories and the knowledge and wisdom Dave shares.  The journey is not drudgery in any sense.  It is very enjoyable!

Ashley here:  I think the most powerful part of this interview was the impact it’s having on their daughter.  Dave always encourages us to “change our family tree” and here’s proof that what we do financially does wear off on our children.  Vicki and Alan not only got themselves out of debt, they changed their daughter’s financial life as well.  Amazing!

I’d also like to point out that $37,000 in 14 months is an average of $2,642 per month.  Did that take sacrifice?  You bet it did!!  But also notice that not a word was said about sacrifice during the interveiw.  The most difficult part was not being able to convince others to come along!  Think about that. 

I’ve talked quite a bit about my frustration with my daughter and her lack of concern when it comes to money.  She wouldn’t save money to save her life.  If she gets 50 cents she will bring it to school and buy a pencil from the school store.  Money just burns a hole in her pocket.

I’ve encouraged her for years to set a goal and save for it.  But she’s the very definition of an impulse shopper.  I think that’s part of why she doesn’t get a kick out of saving.  She doesn’t focus on one want long enough to save for it.  She wanted to buy a Hedwig doll forever. You know Hedwig, the owl from Harry Potter.  I encouraged her to save up for it.  But by the time she would have had enough saved she had moved on to ten other burning desires.

The other day as I was walking out the door to go to a meeting my daughter asked me to get her some envelopes.  I was annoyed that she would ask me to do something for her when I literally had one foot out the door but I stopped and asked her why she needed envelopes.

“Because I want to put money in them.  One for saving for a car.  One for saving for college.  One for saving for a house.  And one for spending.”

WHAT?!!?!  I was stunned.  My daughter wants to put herself on the envelope system.

I congratulated her and said I would get them for her when I got home, which I did.

A few days later she said she was going to bring $5 to school because they were having a book fair and she saw a book she wanted to buy.  I thought “Oh here we go again.  They sold her something.”  I talked to her about her goals and told her about impulse shopping.  I told her it was up to her but she said she wanted to save for college, and a car, and house.  ”Do you have $5 in your spending envelope?”  She didn’t.

She went upstairs and got her $5 but she was feeling very conflicted about it.  She realized she had to take away from her other goals in order to buy this book.  I could see the struggle on her face.

She came home from school with her $5!!  No book!  The envelope system worked.

Note: Before anyone gets on my case about how a book is a great thing for a kid to want to buy I want to point out that we could start our own children’s library.  My step-dad’s late wife was a school teacher and when he married my mom she sent us boxes and boxes and boxes of children’s books.  Our kids also have Kindle Fires where we put every free kid’s book Amazon has to offer.  So our kids have books.  More books than they could ever read.  My daughter needs a lesson in saving more than she needs another book.  

Welcome to the Carnival of Personal Finance!

This is a collection of the week’s best personal finance articles on the web. I’m honored to host this week and grateful for all the wonderful submissions. I’ve chosen a theme of color. Color has a huge impact on our moods and thoughts. It can call your attention or hide in the background. It can attract you or repel you. Color tells a story that words cannot.  But before we get into colors let’s announce the Editor’s Pick!!  These articles were my personal favorites

Editor’s Picks!

FMF from Free Money Finance presents Financial Rules that Work and Don’t Work.  I liked this article because financial rules annoy me.  I think “one size fits all” is really “one size fits none!”  Here FMF lays out 8 financial rules and gives his opinion on whether or not it’s a good rule to follow.

Roshawn Watson from Watson Inc presents Why Do The Rich Get Richer?. The rich have characteristics, habits, and tools that the average person doesn’t.  Or at least that the average person doesn’t use.  Find out what they are and start putting them to use in your life.

Russ Thornton from Wealthcare For Women presents 3 Characteristics Of A True Wealth Manager.  Wealthcare, ha!  That’s funny.  A wealthcare manager will treat your money differently than just an adviser.  Know the difference!

Red is the color of extremes. It’s the color of passionate love, seduction, violence, danger, anger, and adventure. Our prehistoric ancestors saw red as the color of fire and blood – energy and primal life forces – and most of red’s symbolism today arises from its powerful associations in the past.

Learn more about the color red.

Money Management

SB from One Cent At A Time presents How Payment Method Impacts Product Quality Choice, and says, “As researchers found out there is a connection between type of product you by and the mode of payment you make to purchase that product. The study found that we become more cost conscious while using cash as opposed to credit cards.”

Steve Mertz from In Cash Flow We Trust presents From $150,000 a Year to Starbucks, and says, “When men get laid off in a tough economy like this; they view the glass as half full and fully expect to recover quickly. Women tend to be a little more practical and while they remain optimistic-they tend to have a better plan B. ”

Miss T. from Prairie Eco Thrifter presents What Is National Financial Literacy Month?, and says, “On March 28, 2012 the Senate passed Resolution 409 that officially recognized April as National Financial Literacy Month. Why do we need it? Well according to the bill’s sponsors, in the resolution presented to and passed by the 112th Congress this March, we have a lot of issues to solve.”

Peter from Bible Money Matters presents Financial Literacy Month: Why Being Knowledgeable about Personal Finance Will Save You from the Unexpected, and says, “Getting our financial house in order and becoming financially literate has saved us from “unexpected” expenses countless times since we’ve paid off our debt. Because we understood the importance of saving up an emergency fund, paying for things with cash and properly insuring ourselves, we avoided huge debt when my wife was in the hospital for a month in 2008 (to the tune of $250,000), or when I had to have my appendix out right after we got married.”

Raj from E-Money Log presents The Basics of Money Management – Save, Invest and Repeat, and says, “The article covers the basics of money management – saving, investing and repeating the process. The emphasis is on repeating as many people save and invest initially but do not repeat and do not accumulate wealth.”

Nicole from Nicole and Maggie: Grumpy Rumblings presents All the money in the world: A book review, and says, “Nicole and Maggie review All the Money in the World. Should you read it? Read the post and find out.”

Chris from Experiglot presents When to Outsource Personal Tasks, and says, “When do you outsource tasks you don’t want to perform?”

Martin from Studenomics presents What Can You Do With $100 Right Now To Change Your Life?, and says, “How $100 can change your life.”

Orange is vibrant. It’s hot, healthy, fruity and engaging – but it can be abrasive and crass. It’s a polarizing color. People either love it or detest it.

Orange symbolizes energy, vitality, cheer, excitement, adventure, warmth, and good health. However, pure orange can be brass; however, it may suggest a lack of serious intellectual values and bad taste.

Learn more about the color orange.

Investing and Real Estate

Michael Kitces from Nerd’s Eye View presents Why Keeping A Mortgage And A Portfolio May Not Be Worth The Risk, and says, “Keeping a mortgage isn’t just about investing for a higher return. To really be compensated for the risk, investors demand a risk premium in the form of a higher return. Since paying off a mortgage is a risk-free return, this means in practice investors should be pre-paying their mortgage unless they expect double-digit equity returns in the coming years!”

Tim from Brilliant Finances Personal Finance How To presents Rare Coin Sells for $1.15M, But Was It A Good Investment, and says, “Would an investment purchased for $105,000 38 years ago and sold for over $1M be a good investment? Find out in the article.”

Mr. Money from Smart on Money presents Banks Will Pay You to Avoid a Drawn Out Foreclosure Process: Short Sale Incentives, and says, “ecause of the large number of troubled mortgages on the books, some banks are now making moves to offer incentives to homeowners in order to get them to sell their properties for less than they owe before they go foreclose.”

D4L from Dividend Growth Stocks presents 2 High-Yield Investments To Increase Income While Waiting On Dividend Growth, and says, “We have all heard it… Stodgy, for old people, yawn, boring! These have all been used to describe investing in dividend growth stocks. Nevertheless, I am a firm believer in dividend growth stocks for building a bullet-proof retirement portfolio. Study after study has shown that most of the historical stock market returns have come from reinvested dividends…”

PK from Don’t Quit Your Day Job… presents The Efficient Market Hypothesis is Flawed, and says, “I consider this article sort of like an informal second piece in a three part series, but it stands on its own: Is the Efficient Market Hypothesis Flawed? I make a case for “yes”, and explain a few reasons why it may be possible to beat the market – without random chance.”

Mike Piper from Oblivious Investor presents Is It Safer to Use Multiple Fund Companies?, and says, “An interview with Vanguard regarding the systems in place to protect fund investors.”

Investor Junkie from Investor Junkie presents Investing in a Rental Property, and says, “What if someone told you the market for investing in single family homes was red hot? You might just think they’re crazy. So what’s so hot about single family homes in 2012? Low costs of borrowing, excellent spreads between rental prices and mortgage payments, and a minute uptick in job growth. ”

Eric from Narrow Bridge Finance presents Five Frugal Tips That Go Too Far, and says, “I am all about saving money. I like to focus on the big wins like cancelling monthly recurring expenses (like cable) or paying a student loan off 8 years early to save thousands of dollars in interest. I usually don’t care about saving seven cents on soap by not showering. Here are some other crazy frugal tips that I would never, ever do.”

Boomer from Boomer & Echo presents Beat Inflation With Rising Dividends, and says, “One way to beat inflation is to focus on companies that continuously raise their dividends, such as the “Dividend Aristocrats.” This gives you a stream of income that rises as fast as the cost of living.”

Ken Faulkenberry from AAAMP Blog presents What is the Big Deal About Intrinsic Value?, and says, “The goal of the value investor is to take advantage of disparities between the intrinsic or fundamental value and the market price of an asset.”

J.P. from Novel Investor presents Bond Basics: Bond Price And Yield Relationship, and says, “One of the more confusing aspects of bond investing is the relationship of bond price and yield. In a time where interest rates are at all time lows, understanding the bond price and yield relationship is important.”

Div Guy from The Dividend Guy Blog presents Using Dividend ETF’s In A Dividend Portfolio, and says, “What’s in your portfolio?”

Familymoneyvalues from Family Money Values presents Vacation Homes, and says, “Starting in 4th quarter last year, vacation home sales started to pick up around the nation. Should you buy a vacation home as a real estate investment?”

Yellow is the most luminous of all the colors of the spectrum. It’s the color that captures our attention more than any other color. It’s the color of happiness, and optimism, of enlightenment and creativity, sunshine and spring.

Lurking in the background is the dark side of yellow: cowardice, betrayal, egoism, and madness. Furthermore, yellow is the color of caution and physical illness (jaundice, malaria, and pestilence). Perhaps it’s no coincidence that the sources of yellow pigments are toxic metals – cadmium, lead, and chrome – and urine.

Learn more about the color yellow.

Career and Taxes

John from Wallet Blog presents Students with Summer Jobs Shouldn’t Forget the Tax Man, and says, “Students – Looking forward to that summer job? Avoid a nasty surprise in the spring. Don’t forget to take taxes into consideration.”

Jeff Rose from Good Financial Cents presents The 13 Best New Small Business Ideas and Opportunities to Start Today, and says, “Sick of your day job and want to explore something new? Here are 13 small business ideas to venture off on your own. ”

TotallyMoney presents How to moonlight successfully, and says, “How to make extra money by taking an extra job and the things you need to think about”

Control Your Cash from Control Your Cash presents Work from home! (You can’t possibly think this is legit), and says, “Those “work from home” companies don’t want you to be a drug mule, but they’re not far behind.”

Mike from The Financial Blogger presents Why I’m Not in The Real World, and says, “What are you doing with your career in your 20s?”

Mike from Do Not Wait presents What if You Can’t Start Your Career?, and says, “What should you do when you don’t have your dream job but want to save money?”

Sandy from Yes, I am Cheap presents Can I Afford To Get My Master’s Degree, and says, “Tuition bills and the costs of living seem to keep rising while average incomes continue to stagnate. So what’s the answer?”

Green is no longer just a color. It’s now the symbol of ecology and a verb. Since the beginning of time, green has signified growth, rebirth, and fertility. In pagan times, there was the “Green Man” – a symbol of fertility. In Muslim countries, it is a holy color and in Ireland, a lucky color. It was the color of the heavens in the Ming Dynasty.

The English language reflects some strange attributes: Would you rather be green with envy, green behind the ears, or green around the gills? (Idiomatic American English for extremely envious, immature or nauseated.)

Learn more about the color green.

Frugality

Chloe Muller from Smart Finance 101 presents Five Ways To Save On Your Travels, and says, “This is an article over 2000 words that details my personal experience with frugal travel through Asia. It highlights the five things people must do if they want to travel well on a budget. ”

Earth and Money from Earth and Money presents Planning a Green Frugal Wedding – Venue, and says, “When it comes to the venue, you can be both green and frugal without seriously defying standard wedding traditions.”

Kacie from Sense To Save presents How to take a break from being frugal, and says, “Being frugal is a positive thing, but sometimes we could use a break. Here are some ideas for avoiding frugal fatigue and taking a little break to avoid burnout.”

Robert from The College Investor presents Cut Travel Expenses, and says, “With gas prices increasing to an all time high it’s been predicted that this year many families will cut vacation time down, or forgo traveling altogether. If you are smart and plan well, you can avoid eliminating travel plans. I will share some helpful ideas to consider.”

Mike from Green Panda Treehouse presents I’m Not Rich Because…, and says, “What’s holding you back from being rich?”

Credit

Connie Prater from Taking Charge presents Women hit with higher credit card interest rates? Let’s get to the bottom of this, and says, “When financial literacy group came out with a study that showed women were paying a half a percentage point more in credit card interest than men, I wanted to get to the bottom of why that could happen. I explore the potential reasons in this blog. Women should not be paying more than their fair share for anything.”

Clint from Accumulating Money presents The Importance of a Credit Report Check-up, and says, “There’s one checkup that many consumers fail to perform that can directly affect every aspect of their life – their credit report. Consider this an examination for the health of your future.”

Blue is the favorite color of all people. It’s nature’s color for water and sky, but is rarely found in fruits and vegetables. Today, blue is embraced as the color of heaven and authority, denim jeans and corporate logos. It is cold, wet, and slow as compared to red’s warmth, fire, and intensity.

Most blues convey a sense of trust, loyalty, cleanliness, and understanding. On the other hand, blue evolved as symbol of depression in American culture. “Singing the blues” and feeling blue” are good examples of the complexity of color symbolism and how it has been evolved in different cultures.

Learn more about the color blue.

Budgeting and Saving

Philip from PT Money Personal Finance presents My Accountant Reviews QuickBooks Online vs. Desktop, and says, “Since I don’t know as much about how QuickBooks Online compares to the desktop version, I asked my accountant to share his opinion on the two based on his experience.”

Amanda from My Dollar Plan presents Should You Pay for Your Child’s College Education?, and says, “This is not an article about whether or not you can afford to pay for your child’s/children’s college education. Rather, this is an article from the perspective of a recent college grad (2005) on whether or not parents should pay for their child’s college education.”

Sean Smarty from Grow Money presents What Banks Are Offering Some of the Best Savings Accounts in 2012?

Eric J. Nisall from DollarVersity presents What You Thought You Knew About MPG Ratings Is Probably Wrong, and says, “When shopping for a car, fuel economy is one of the most important factors. Unfortunately, you can’t always trust that the window sticker is accurate.”

Justin from The Family Finances presents Spend Less Than You Earn, and says, “The closest thing to a financial “magic bullet” is to spend less than your earn. Nothing works better for improving your financial situation.”

Purple’s rarity in nature and the expense of creating the color and has given purple a supernatural aura for centuries. Purple is also the most powerful wavelength of the rainbow – and it’s a color with a powerful history that has evolved over time. In fact, the origins of the symbolism of purple are more significant and interesting than those of any other color.

Learn more about purple here. 

Debt and Finance

Everything Finance Blog from Everything Finance Blog presents Is It Okay to Hire a Cleaning Lady When You Have Debt?, and says, “I don’t particularly enjoy cleaning and neither does my husband. And if I have a day off, the last thing I want to do is spend a good chunk of my day cleaning. Which has led us to ponder: is it okay to hire a cleaning lady even though we still have debt?”

Glen Craig from Free From Broke presents How Will Your Student Loans Affect Your Credit Score?, and says, “Many don’t think about the long-term affects of student debt when they go to school, especially not how it affects their credit score.

Jeff Rose from Life Insurance By Jeff presents Do Newlyweds Really Need Life Insurance?, and says, “Wedding cakes and honeymoons are on newlyweds minds. But what about life insurance? Do they really need it? Let’s find out…”

Well there you have it folks!  The very best edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance ever created, in my opinion anyways!  See you around!

Today’s article is from Suzanne. Suzanne is a certified credit counselor and a Social Media Specialist for CareOne Debt Relief Services. Suzanne writes for Divorce, Debt and Finances and A Straight Talk on Debt. Follow Suzanne on Twitter @ADivorcedMom and @AskCareOne where she shares her insights on divorce and managing your finances.

For many parents summer brings a challenge: What do you do with your kids? If you have young children providing a safe, entertaining, and budget friendly summer is not an easy task.

Stay at home parents are faced with endless hours of unscheduled time, bored kids, and a budget to keep.

Here are some ways you can make summer days fly by and maybe even have some summer fun yourself!

Give them the Green Thumb

If you have the space, why not use the summer as an opportunity to start a garden? Engage your kids in a garden project to teach them about horticulture. Do a little research; your local library is a wonderful resource, about what grows best in your region. Aim for edible stuff: if your child can actually eat the finished product, the project will be that much more rewarding. Think herbs and veggies or even edible flowers.

Bonus: if the garden thrives, you’ll save some money on groceries.

Once upon a summer …

If you can’t afford the time or expense of a real camping trip, you can still reap the benefits of one. Borrow or rent a tent and sleeping bags and set up in the backyard. The kids will love telling ghost stories and holing up in their Secret Fort. For dinner, cook out with hot dogs and s’mores.

Everybody Loves a Fort

My son will play for HOURS building a fort and then protecting it. In the summer I allow him to take his fort supplies outdoors for a change of scenery. All you need are some chairs, old blankets, duck tape, cardboard and markers. If you have a few dollars to spare you can even visit your local thrift store for fort furniture. Trust me this activity provides hours of entertainment.

Let Them be an Entrepreneur

Help your kids learn the value of money. Sit them down with a pad of paper and brainstorm businesses and prices. Then make signs including business name and purpose, contact information, etc. Make copies on brightly colored paper and post them on telephone poles around the neighborhood.

Take your mini entrepreneur to the bank to open a savings account, so that whatever cash comes in can really teach him or her about the value of money, how to save it and how to spend it wisely.

 Beaches—Natures Sandbox

If you live near the coast, or even a sandy lake, take the kids to the water. Swimming, sand, sun-it’s a surefire way to tire them out while you enjoy the latest summer novel. If they’re onto your tricks and insist on quality time with you instead of playing by themselves, offer to let them bury you in the sand. This will take hours: the digging of a parent-size hole and the repacking of the sand. Sand castles are also a great way to keep them occupied at the beach and build their engineering spirit.

No nearby sandy areas? Consider using a section of your backyard and turn it into your very own beach! A few bags of sand, a hole, or a plastic sandbox and you are ready for sandy fun.

These are just a few ideas for summer fun. Summer break is always a challenge, but if you get creative and think back to when you were a kid, the ideas will come. And if you run out of thoughts, turn to the most creative minds you know: your kids’.

How do you keep your kids entertained and out of trouble on summer break?

We are having a good April!  Earlier this week I revealed that we refinanced our house.  We also sent over some of our savings in order to max out our Roth IRAs for 2011.  It’s the first time have maxed out our Roths.  I felt pretty proud of myself.

Roth IRAs allow you to save $5,000 per person.  The money that you contribute is taxed now (so just money out of your checking account) but grows tax free.  When we retire we can withdraw the money from our IRAs and pay no tax at all.  So the growth is never taxed.  Pretty cool!

We debated for a long time whether we should put that money into our Roths or send it as extra payments to the mortgage on the rental property.  That’s actually where we got the money.  Each month our rental property has positive cash flow and I just let it build up in a separate savings account.  At the end of the year I was going to send whatever was in there to the mortgage to help get it paid off asap.

Well, we decided to send it to our Roths.  It’s better use of the money for tax purposes.  In the Roths we get the tax advantages of the Roth which we do not get in the rental property.  Also, the interest paid on the mortgage is tax-deductible so we save a little money there.  And when I say a little money I mean a LITTLE money.  We pay like $80 less in taxes by keeping that mortgage hanging around.  Paying extra $10,000 towards that debt would end up costing us like $5 a year in taxes.  Not exactly material information here.

If I keep up the good work and continue to max our Roths for the next 17 years I should have over $500,000 in our Roths when my husband hits 65.  So I’ll keep socking away our money in hopes of someday retiring.  Of course, half a million isn’t going to be enough… but it’s a start.

Preparing for a disaster, or prepping, is becoming a hot trend.  They even have reality shows about it now and I keep seeing ads on Craigslist for prepping groups.  While prepping is interesting to me it’s not something I’ve allowed myself to get involved in.  It seems like a lot of work for hopefully no benefit.

But on the other hand it would be nice to have a plan.  Not having a plan in case of emergency is exactly like not having a retirement plan.  I spend all day every day trying to get anyone who will listen to start saving for retirement.  I cry out ”I’ll work til I die isn’t a retirement plan!” yet I close my eyes to the possibility of a disaster.  The preppers would yell at me “hoping a disaster doesn’t happen isn’t a plan!”.

My resistance to prepping is that I don’t want to spend my regular life dealing with the “what-ifs” that will probably never happen.  I don’t want to rotate through food.  Getting dinner on the table is hard enough without having to deal with which can of beans is going to expire next.  Plus, I hate bandwagons. Now that “prepping” is a thing it just makes me want to do it less.

But disasters can happen and living in Phoenix makes us especially vulnerable since survival here without electricity and plumbing is pretty much impossible.  So water and an escape route are important.

I’m really looking for a one and done plan here.  I want to set it up and be done with it.  I don’t mind updating it once a year or so but I don’t want a weekly chore.  For me, it’s about getting out-of-town in the case of emergency.  I know living in Phoenix full-time without local services (stores, gas stations, electricity, running water, ect.) is impossible.  It’s the desert.  We don’t have natural water and gardening isn’t really doable on a full-scale.  What I’m most concerned about is getting out of here in one piece.

So I did some research on what it would take to have a reasonable, real life, prepping plan in place.  I found out what I’m looking for is called a Bug-out-Bag, or BOB for short.  It’s a bag that is set up to grab and go.

The point of a bug out bag is to be self reliant for 3 days.  So what needs to be in a BOB?

Medical Supplies: They say to build your own first aid kit rather than buying one premade for a couple of reasons.  One, you will know exactly what is in your kit if you build it yourself.  Two, you can make sure it’s equip with things you will really need and not a bunch useless junk.  You will want to include bandages, band aids, cravats, tape, gloves, blanket, tweezers, triple antibiotic, and crazy glue for sealing lacerations. Don’t forget Tylenol, Ibuprofen, Aspirin, Benadryl, and Imodium and extra prescription medications.  Also make sure to keep a written copy of your medical conditions in your kit.

Clothing:  Pack clothing with camping in mind.  Keep in mind the type of weather will you be facing.  A pair of sturdy hiking boots are a must along with a pair of non-jean pants and a few shirts.  Stay away from cotton as it’s not great when it gets wet.  So pack synthetic fiber socks and nylon undies.  Don’t forget a hat,  bandana, and sunglasses.  A rain coat or poncho is also a great addition for wet weather.

Water:  They say you need a minimum of 1 liter per day of water.  So you will want to have at least 3 liters of water in your BOB. Collapsible water bottles can save space when they are not filled.  Also, a water filter of some sort will allow you to drink water from a stream if you have one.  That will help your store bought bottled water last even longer.  Rumor has it that straining your water through coffee filters before you use your water filter will help your water filter last longer.  Makes sense and coffee filters are easy enough to carry.

Food:  Again we are aiming for 3 days of self reliance so you will want a 3 day supply of food.  I like to carry my extra food on my thighs (haha) but you might want to pack yours in your BOB.  Freeze dried food packs are the recommended product in your BOB.  You need about 2,000 calories on a regular day, I would imagine your caloric needs would be even higher during a catastrophic event. Keep that in mind when planning your meals.

Cooking: You will at least want a small pot to put over a flame to boil water for use in your freeze dried packs.  If you have a backpacking stove then that’s even better.

Shelter:  A tent or a set of tarps will be necessary for sleeping outside.  You will want something above you for shelter and something beneath you to keep moisture away.  Don’t forget your sleeping bag!

Protection: Yup, I’m talking guns and knives here.  Guns and ammo could mean the difference between life and death.  Both in protecting your own life and hunting for food.  A survival knife is also a must have.  Not only for protection but for a million other uses too.

Fire:  You will want to have at least three different ways to make fire.  You will also need stuff to burn once you get a fire going.  They actually make flexible saws for this sort of thing… who knew?

Flashlight:  Two flashlights and replacement batteries for some light after dark.

Other Tools: Pen and paper, fishing gear, razor blades, duct tape, sporks, compass, whistle, Zip ties, multi-tool, local map, paracord, crank powered and battery back-up radio with weather channel, Tent stakes, LED light that clips onto hat brim, extra batteries, and money.

Personal Information:  Birth certificates, passports, social security cards, marriage certificates, insurance information, medical information, emergency phone numbers, and anything else that you might need to start a new life if you can’t come back to your home.

Phew, well after writing this I feel woefully unprepared!  I don’t even own a lot of this stuff, let alone a way to throw it all together in the midst of an emergency.  Maybe I’ll write about the cost of putting together a BOB.

This is all brand new information to me and I wrote this article as I learned.  So please, if I forgot an important point or misstated a fact feel free to leave a comment and set me straight.

Happy Prepping!!