Black and Married with Kids: Debt and Dating

One of my favorite Blogs is Black and Married with Kids written by The Dad and The Mom (Ronnie and Lamar). The couple are just what the title of the blog suggest; black, married, and have kids. The blog covers so much more than the title suggests. Today, they did a Q&A on debt and dating. Check it out here . Leave a comment, let the Dad and the Mom know you are reading. It is a great blog with great insight for anyone whether you are married, single, have kids, or not.

My Finance: These are MY Confessions

Remember a few years ago when Usher had that song out called "My Confessions"? Well today is my confession day. Okay, here goes. I'm embarrassed and ashamed to admit this BUT,..........I HAVEN'T BALANCED MY CHECK BOOK IN 2 MONTHS! Okay, I'm exhaling. I feel better to have gotten that off of my chest. Now, I'm going off to balance my check book while I'm here at work. (no, I haven't overdrafted my account, I do look at my account everyday online, and it is my personal account, not my joint account that my husband and I pay bills from--he would have killed me by now if that was the case!) I am going to make sure I NEVER do this again!

Photo Courtesy of: www.freewebs.com/usherfansite

My Life and Love: Do you still Date your Spouse?

View my page on Still Dating My Spouse

I' mentioned in my introduction to this blog that I have been married for 2 years. One of my favorite marriage websites is Still Dating My Spouse created by Tracey Brooks. Check it out. I think it is important for married couples to remember why they got married and what attracts them to each other. I think Still Dating My Spouse is a wonderful website/social network. It is a wonderful place to chat and talk about the joys of marriage.

My Finance: Saving Up

I got paid today! Yay! (I act like I don't get paid every two weeks LOL!) I'm super excited because I just put away $50.00 in my savings account. You may not think $50.00 is not much, but is is a start for me. I am going to try---I mean I am going to save $50.00 per pay period and contribute it to my savings account. My goal is to save $3,000.00 by the end of the year. Of course, in order to do that, I will have to gradually increase the amount I am contributing to my savings account. Maybe by August I will be saving $200.00 per pay period. I'll see how it goes.

Oh, I'm still searching for another bank. If you have any suggestions, let me know. I am also looking for an Internet bank for my savings account. Holla at ya girl and give me your suggestions.

My Life, My Love, My Finance

Love ya,
Ms. HM

My Finance: Changing Banks

One of my favorite blogs is Fabulous Financials written by Single Ma. A few weeks ago, she wrote an article about her bank increasing the interest rates after she had already found another bank. If you recall, one of my short term goals was to find another bank as soon as possible. Well, the time has come for me to make a BIG move. My bank is trippin'!



Mr. HM and I have about 6 or so accounts with the same bank. Yes, I know, you should not keep all of your accounts with the same bank. However, when you live in a small town and there are only 2 "hometown" banks, you don't really have much of a choice. But now, the time has come for me to move on.

ACCOUNT MAINTENANCE FEES
One of the worst things for me to do is to keep paying those stupid monthly account maintenance fees. My bank does not have "totally free" checking. GASP! That's right folks! My bank has not come out of the stone ages. The only accounts that do not have maintenance fees are the savings accounts for minors and there are free checking accounts for college students. I am paying $10.00 per month for 6 accounts, which is a total of $60.00. I've been with the bank for almost 24 months. So 24 multiplied by $60.00 is $1,440.00! Yes folks, I am ashamed to admit that over $1,000.00 of my hard earned money has gone to stupid fees.

BANK HOURS OF OPERATION
If the account maintenance fees aren't already enough, the hours of operation totally suck! Get this, the bank is open Monday thru Friday from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM! One branch of the bank keeps their drive thru open until 6:00 PM. Like that is any better! I work from 8:30 AM until 5:00 PM Monday--Friday. I usually have to spend my prescious lunch break in the bank, or I have to leave work to go to the bank. One branch of the bank is open on Saturday from 8:00 AM until 12:00 AM. There is also a branch of the bank in one of the local grocery stores, but the hours still aren't much better.

CRAPPY CUSTOMER SERVICE
The customer service at the bank is also crappy. Customer service in this town is crappy overall at most establishments. I hate to go in the bank and hear loud tellers discussing other people's business and the party they went to last weekend. That is just tackless to me. I've been a bank teller before, and I know you want to talk to your co-workers about non-work related stuff, but geesh, wait until the customers are gone!

THE FEW BENEFITS OF MY BANK
One of the only benefits to banking with my bank is that I can easily transfer money between my accounts and my husband's accounts (we have one joint checking and savings and individual checking and savings accounts). Now that I have mentioned that one benefit, I really can not think of any other benefits. So, as you can see, the negative far out weighs the positives in this situation.

I'm looking for a new bank, any suggestions? Where do you bank? What do you like about your bank?


My Life, My Love, My Finance

Love ya,
Ms. HM

My Love: Why Don't Father's Get the Same Love as Mothers on Father's Day?

Father's Day is this weekend, and many blogs and radio shows are focusing on it. I'm currently listening to the Michael Baisden Show and he asked a question that got me thinking. The question was, "Why don't people get as excited about their father as they do their mother?" My first thought was that a lot of people don't have a father or a father figure to look up to, so their father and mother are one in the same.

Then I thought about all the great TV Dads. There was James from Good Times, Bill Cosby from the Cosby Show, Danny Tanner from Full House, George Jefferson from the Jefferson Show, Carl Winslow from Family Matters, and many more. To me, James was the ultimate TV dad. No matter what the situation was, he kept the family together and kept his wife and kids clothed, fed, and educated. I wish we had more dads like that today. Danny Tanner was the example of the Single TV dad raising 3 daughers with the help of his family. I could go on and on about the rest of the dads I mentioned, but I'll spare you.

My dad is and always has been wonderful to me and my siblings. I am eternally grateful to him. I believe that I am the woman I am today in large part because of him. I do not know what it is like not to have a father. I think my family makes a big deal out of Father's Day just like we do Mother's Day. My question to you is, do you think society makes a bigger deal out of Mother's Day than they do Father's Day?

My Love: The Kids are Away........

My 3 kids are all gone to visit my parents for a week--yes the twins took a vacation. My week long vacation is up tomorrow and I must go pick them up. Well, that is with the exception of Skaterboy. He spends the whole summer with the grandparents. The twins aren't old enough to spend the whole summer yet. I was just in awe that my parents offered to keep 7 month old twins for a week. Anyway, I made all these wonderful plans for what I was going to do for a whole week kid free. Here were my plans:

1. Clean up the nursery-- pack up baby clothes that are now too little
2. Get rid of some of Skaterboy's toys that he no longer plays with.
3. Clean our bedroom.
4. Stay at work late and play catch up.
5. Go shopping.
6. Relax
7. Spend time with the Mr. HM
8. Sleep
9. Return calls to the few friends that I have who called me over a month ago and I never called back

The only thing I got to on my list was #8, SLEEP! Oh well, maybe next time I'll get more done. That's the life of a mom, wife, employee, friend, etc. Oh, and Mr. HM did get a little cuddle and talk time in.

CREDIT CARD DEBT----Is It Ruining Your Life?

I was watching Good Morning America (GMA) while getting ready for work, and a news story about Americans and debt caught my attention. Particularly a story about a 21 year old college senior who is over $22,000.00 in credit card debt left me appalled. However, credit card debt seems to be the norm in our society. I own 1 credit card that I have had for 9 years. The balance on it is about $350.00 right now. You may think that is a good thing----BUT it isn't! The card limit is $500.00, so right now, I'm close to my limit. I plan to pay the card off by September. I am going to ask for an increase in the spending limit once I pay the balance off since it is the only credit card I have and I only use it for emergencies or work related purposes that I get reimbursed for later. Anyway, check out the link below and tell me what you think. How do you think people get so far in credit card debt? Is it from emergencies, loss of job, or just like to shop? (I'm learning to post the actual video, for some reason I couldn't get it to upload today).

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Consumer/story?id=5045343&page=1

My Life: My Job--When to Leave?

I have so many goals that I want to accomplish in every aspect of my life. I am trying to grow spiritually, career wise, and financially. Right now, I feel that my job is hindering me from growing financially but may be helping me spiritually. I'll be talking in greater detail about my job later, but today, I'm just going to give you a little bit of my dilema.

I love my job MOST of the time. I try to be more thankful and grateful that I even have a job in my field right now. We are in a recession and people are losing jobs with every merger of a company. My job right now is in the nonprofit sector, so you automatically know that means---NO MONEY! In order to achieve my financial goals, it seems to me that I need another job that pays more. In my field, I could get a job making three times what I make now if I move to another area (more about that later) or leave the nonprofit sector. I have only been in my field about two years, I'm trying to figure out if I just chalk up the less money issue to the fact that I'm just starting out and I'm getting invaluable experience (which I question sometimes)?