Tagged: Home

The Basics of Home and Family Budgeting

Who, What, When, Where, Why and How; these form the dynamic, interacting and inter-dependent elements, systems and processes that are the basis of family budgeting.

Who? Every family situation is uniquely different and distinctive. There is no one-size-fits-all answer and solution for everyone.

Some of the tips in this guide might apply to your unique means and circumstance, and others may not have any significant impact or practical application at all.

In general terms, you will find handy ideas, hints, process steps, practical savings suggestions and budgeting that might have gone unnoticed before.

The information provided is general and should be evaluated on an individual and contextualized basis.  Remember to consult a financial advisor when making fiscal decisions that could affect the financial health, well-being and future of you and your treasured family.

There are various different families in question here too: single-income, single-parent, blended and/or extended families, double-income households, stay-at-home mothers working part-time from the home to make ends meet, social-supported and/or subsidized families, families at risk, divorced household with shared parenting and financial responsibilities, debt-ridden or bankruptcy families and numerous others. We hope to offer something for everyone.

What? Family budgeting is a structured process and planning activity, dealing with a family’s financial resources and context.

This hands-on approach puts expense items into categories as another helpful strategy. This is done to get a better handle on the current situation and offers somewhat of a reality check to most that choose to undertake this journey.

Some of the categories could be:

When and Where? In the interest of brevity, we combine the next two facets. Our best assessment to answering when and where the best place and time would be to start a family budget would be to answer unequivocally: HERE AND NOW!

It demands attention as it directly affects our daily lives and well-being. Without delay, hesitation or postponement, we need to step up and protect our family interest, financial health and future.

Accounting brings accountability! A wealth management guru is often quoted as saying. This rings so true. It is hard to ignore, if we are confronted with objective cold hard financial facts that tell us that we are in trouble.

Why budget? Families, as mentioned before, have diverse reasons and motivations for budgeting. Briefly summarized, people budget for a couple of reasons:

How? Well that is a little bit lengthy. For the full guide on how to budget, visit the link to my website in the author bio box below. I look forward to teaching you more!

Protect Your Home and Family From The Risk Of Fire

The fire alarm wakes you in the middle of the night (you do have one installed in your home, don’t you?).  You have three sleeping children in their upstairs bedrooms. Do you know what to do? Do you have an evacuation plan and have you educated your children as to what to in case of fire?

One hundred sixty two minutes ago, someone just died in a house fire. Thirty-two minutes ago, someone was injured in a house fire.  In 2007, there were 214,000 fires that resulted in 2,895 deaths and 14,000 injuries. Most people die from smoke inhalation or toxic fumes during a house fire. Some of the causes of house fires are cooking (the number one cause), heaters, candles, arson, smoking, children playing with matches and fireplaces. Fires are estimated to cost society an unbelievable 165 billion dollars a year.  Switzerland has the lowest rate of deaths by fire, and the United States has the highest.

The people who are at risk the most are the elderly, children, the poor, African and Native Americans, people living in rural areas or substandard housing or manufactured homes, and please – don’t forget about your pets.

However, there is some good news. These numbers have been on the decline in recent years due to fire education, installation of fire alarms, sprinkler systems, fire code standards, better construction materials, better fire fighter equipment and higher training standards for firemen.

Some precautions you can implement to minimize the risk of a house fire are check your furnace every year, keep all flammable materials away from the furnace, use extreme caution when using a space heater. You can have your fireplace chimney cleaned and use a screen to prevent sparks from igniting rugs, furniture or anything in the room, keep the lint screen free from lint in your dryer and make sure the dryer vent is outside your home. Don’t overload outlets with power strips, if possible try not to use extension cords as they can overheat easily (and never use one that is damaged or frayed), keep the television away from the wall to prevent overheating, do not smoke when you are in bed, tired, or have been drinking.  Keep matches away from children and never leave them alone when there is a fire in the fireplace or a space heater in the room. And always have a watchful eye when you burn a candle, never leaving one burning while you are sleeping. Place your candles on a surface made particularly for candles.  Since cooking is the number one cause of house fires, never leave a pan unattended on the stove – not even for a minute!

It is good to have on hand a fire extinguisher (and know how to use it), install smoke detectors on every floor, especially near the bedroom, kitchen and laundry room, checking the batteries every year, especially if you live in an apartment that doesn’t have a sprinkler system. And the latest form of protection is to have smoke hoods for everyone in the house which will provide a way to breath safely in the event of a house on fire as the smoke is the most common reason for death in a house fire.

In a matter of moments, you can lose everything or those you love. Time is the most precious thing if there is a house fire. Don’t waste it by being unprepared or uneducated. Start today and take the steps needed to protect you and your loved ones.

My Top Five Reasons For Using Personal Alarms To Protect Your Home and Family

In today’s world, personal safety is one of the biggest concerns that we face. Families and personal property are threatened constantly and we all need to find a way to be confident that we are protected from the dangers around us. While there are dozens of reasons to warrant the need for taking steps to feel safe here are five great reasons to invest in an economical and easy personal alarm for your family and home.

1. Peace of Mind. It is difficult for anyone to feel secure these days. Flipping through the channels you cannot ignore the fact that individuals and their property are violated on a daily basis. In 2007, over eleven million crimes were committed in the United States against people and their property. It is hard to feel safe with statistics like that but having items such as personal alarms can bring you some comfort in this crazy world. An alarm may not stop every crime but it certainly will deter most criminals from wanting to stick around and continue what they started. A personal alarm will draw attention to what is about to happen and usually cause the perpetrator to run away rather than be the center of attention in a quiet neighborhood. Just knowing that you have the ability to make a commotion, if you need to, can bring you and your family some peace of mind and comfort in any situation.

2. A Way to Get Help. While having a personal alarm may not stop all criminals from trying to commit a crime, it will provide you with a way to draw attention to the situation and give you an opportunity to get help from others. A personal alarm can alert others that you are in need of help and will give them notification to call for help. This can make all the difference in the world.  There are many different types of personal alarms available from ones that simply emit a loud noise to draw attention to ones that will allow emergency crews to find you that are accurate to within a few meters or feet of the location. Allowing you to get help quickly.

3. Time. A criminal is going to be shocked by the noise and attention of a personal alarm going off. This can give you time to react while they are planning how to handle the situation. You will have a much greater chance of being able to defend yourself, get out of danger, and find help when needed. The critical few seconds that are provided by this can give you an opportunity to escape, protect yourself, and scare the criminal off rather than possibly being at their mercy. It can allow you to make your next move before they get a chance to make theirs.

4. Personal Alarms can save your life. The world today can be a scary place. Lives have been saved because of personal alarms. The response time of emergency personnel is much quicker when an alarm is activated. A man who was swarmed by a group of teenagers received help in less than six minutes thanks to the personal alarm he activated. He received only minor injuries in the attack as opposed to the thousands of stories each year of people being seriously or fatally injured in similar incidents where there was no alarm used.

5. Your Family’s health and safety. Whether you are worried about a family member who has poor health and may need emergency medical attention or a young adult walking to their college dorm after a night of studying at the library, personal alarms can protect your family from any unexpected incident and provide you and them with confidence, comfort and safety at all times. Their lives are important to you and a personal alarm can make sure that they have help anytime from anything.Pick up personal alarms today for self defense products toolkit.www.ProtectYourHomeandFamily.com  866-478-0254