Financial Fitness February

General Discussion
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Last year this time I did a challenge where I shared with you all a daily tip I was trying to apply in my life to improve my financial wellbeing.

February tends to be the month for me I tend to really get back on track with my finances.

Because of that, I have decided to call it Financial Fitness February and I will once again be sharing with you the healthy financial steps I am taking.

This time however, I will be sharing just the things I did each day that have an impact on my finances in some way or another.

I truly believe the path to financial fitness is a step by step process and it is important to celebrate the wins no matter how small.

So as I share each day I would also love to hear from you what you are doing to better your financial future.

It could be anything from paying down debt to picking up a penny off the ground.

Together, we can take small steps and challenge each other to take bigger ones tomorrow!

DAY 1 WIN:

Today my wife and I went to buy a cookware set. (Since we didn’t have any after having got rid of most of our stuff to travel all 50 States)

We wanted something that would last, so we didn’t go for the cheapest one. I did however go prepared with coupons and a discount (at Kohls) and was able to save $30 off the original price, plus got an additional $10 Kohls Cash for a future purchase.

FUN FACT: Did you know, if you save just $28 dollars a day in a bank account, you will have over 10K after one year!

LESSON FROM TODAY: Financial fitness doesn’t mean you never spend money. But it does require you to become smart about how you spend and take advantage of any opportunity to save on major purchases.

That’s all I got for day one, what is a recent financial win you have accomplished?

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Thanks Jon Moore! I look forward to your daily tips. Now that the January no spend challenge is over, I’m glad your keeping up our interest in saving money all year long. In January, I’m usually still getting bills from Christmas to pay off, but February is fresh and new. Let’s get to it!!!

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@dboothe It is so easy to lose focus after January with the new year behind us and the excitement of the new wearing off.

Let’s make February as good if not better than January!

We get an extra day this leap year month to make our goals happen so we should take advantage of it! thumb

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Financial Fitness February, I like the sound of that. Looking forward to seeing your other financial achievements. For me, the most significant achievement has been finding a deal on my skincare products. I was buying them at full price but I finally got a discount code. Saved me $15

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I have the feeling a financial challenge is coming our way and it is in the form of grown children. They are a married couple and about 3 years ago moved from the area here in Maryland to Florida, my daughter-in-law took on a job overseeing an elderly patient’s care, the patient passed and the good pay evaporated about 1 year ago. So she finally landed a job doing customer service at a large chain store, my son was employed also be the same store in a different dept. He lost his job in Nov and now has a no-benefit minimum wage job elsewhere. They are close to being evicted. Over the years nearly the entire family has “helped” them out, never to be repaid. Good intentions. Both my husband and I are retired and money has become tighter, much tighter. We want to enjoy our senior years together and are just waiting for the plead to once again help out. We can’t afford to. We’d really like to have a financially fit February. Any suggestions?

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Redcatcec - you have to tell them no or call and explain to them that you are not in a position to help out anymore so you are giving them the freedom to do it for themselves. Introduce them to the Penny Hoarder. They have to learn.

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REDCATCEC, We have helped both of my kids out multiple times in their twenties, most of the time we didn’t get paid back because I would forgive the debt. Then they started paying back and now they are both financially stable…I’m not bragging, just lucky.

We are now NOT in a position to help and as hard as it would be, if they came calling for help, I would give them my best advice on how we made it when we were starting out. It wasn’t easy, but we did it on our own. As CharlotteL stated, I would tell them about Penny Hoarder and suggest they find ways to earn more money…better job, extra job, But tell them up front that you cannot help out financially any more. If you’re a praying person, pray for them, but stand firm. You (we) should not have to become financially strapped for grown children who are able bodied.

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Many thanks for all the suggestions, we will say no! I would love to give them the Penny Hoarder ways, but they are not of this mind set. They just don’t get it. We pride ourselves on being cost conscious and very aware of where the money goes…and what to do about our spending habits and debts. All of us came into the world with nothing, let them earn their way as we did. Thank you again.

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@user_513041238229137030 When it comes to products that you use on a regular basis, any time you can find a way to save a little on the purchase, it is a WIN!

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Right Jon! My husband and I take Prevagen (a memory supplement). It works wonders for us. The cheapest I could find it at the time was a CVS online subscription plan. They automatically sent it every month and we saved $8 per bottle/$16 mo. We got an email that CVS.com was being discontinued. I panicked. A quick search of the internet found that I could get it at $10 off per bottle/$20 per month savings. I guess that’s a good lesson to keep checking your subscriptions to make sure you are still getting the best deal.

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We have been dedicated pharmacy users for years (Express Scripts), now with competition between companies for the money, consumers are able to compare prices. If our Sam’s Club can beat the prices, we’ll go there, plus get cash back from their credit card.This works to our advantage. Sometimes the different pharmacies offer you a bonus for transferring your prescription.

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I hear all the suggestions about how or not to help their kids. Sometimes it comes down to tough love. In a way, you dont want to flat out say No! But at the same time, they need to learn to handle things on their own, like all of us are. But when it comes to praying. Matthew 21:22 says: And all the things you ask in prayer, having Faith, you will receive. So first we need to pray and then having the Faith is the other key in showing God that we want to rely on him. Why should we rely on God? Cas he says in Proverbs 3:5 Trust in Jehovah with all your heart And do not rely on your own understanding. So the other key to any relationship and esp with Jehovah God along with Faith is Trust. We have to have the Trust that He will hear us, when we pray to him and in our hearts, we know he will answer the prayer. So good Job as to mentioning prayer, whoever that was. Prayer is the antidote to worry. So turn your worries into prayers. So along with the other suggestions, help when you can, but dont enable them to rely on you forever. Help them to reach small goals so they feel like their helping themselves and then eventually they wont need you anymore, cas they will have be doing it on their own after you support them to reach their Goals. But be supportive, that is another key to a healthy relationship, just dont blow them off. Still show that you care.

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Well said Arthur. Love “prayer is the antidote to worry”.

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REDCATCEC, We are Sam’s Clubs members also. Love that the cashback pays for the membership plus more. We are also Express Script customers, but it is our prescription plan through my husband’s (retired) employer. It is my understanding that we have to use Express Scripts mail order for all maintenance drugs (like for high blood pressure, high cholesterol). Then, we have to use certain pharmacies for our other prescriptions. Admittedly, I have not checked the list lately, but I thought we paid the co-pay set by Express Scripts.

Do you have an individual Express Scripts account?