Is Minimum Wage Worth It for a Married Couple?

Lacey writes in:“My husband makes about $45K per year working for the state. I make just a hair above minimum wage – $8 per hour – working in the kitchen at a restaurant. I don’t mind the work but I have been wondering whether it makes sense for me to be doing this. After taxes I end up bringing home about $220 a week and I think I could help us out more by not working and doing stuff to save money at home. For example, we eat out a lot because we’re both worn out after work and we have to keep two cars so we can both get to work and back. If I wasn’t working, we could stop eating out and we …

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Lacey writes in:

“My husband makes about $45K per year working for the state. I make just a hair above minimum wage – $8 per hour – working in the kitchen at a restaurant. I don’t mind the work but I have been wondering whether it makes sense for me to be doing this. After taxes I end up bringing home about $220 a week and I think I could help us out more by not working and doing stuff to save money at home. For example, we eat out a lot because we’re both worn out after work and we have to keep two cars so we can both get to work and back. If I wasn’t working, we could stop eating out and we could get rid of a car and also get way more efficient with our groceries and other things. Plus we are thinking about having a child and child care would just eat up everything I make. Does it make sense for me to keep working?“

It is really hard to say which approach would make more financial sense for you without substantially more information than this, because there are a lot of factors involved.

The biggest factor of all is your work ethic. It might seem obvious that you would spend your days doing things that reduce spending at home, but doing that day in and day out requires significant work ethic. Would you really spend all of your day preparing meals and doing other economical things? Or would it be tempting to spend the afternoon watching TV or reading a book? This change only financially makes sense if you’re saving minimum wage for each hour you’re at home.

I work from home. I know the temptation to do something besides focus on the task at hand, given that there are many temptations within just a few steps of my work station. It takes willpower to consistently make the choice to be productive at home and some people simply can’t do it as effectively as they need to.

It is absolutely vital that you keep yourself busy if you choose to stay at home and focus on improving your family’s financial situation that way. I find that setting a to-do list each day and striving to complete it (as well as enjoying the sense of accomplishment that comes from finishing it) goes a long way toward making it all work for me.

Transportation savings can be a big boost as well, but it requires some difficult choices. You’re eliminating all of the costs associated with one of the cars just by making this move – assuming, of course, that you’re willing to switch to a one-car household. This means that you’d either be walking or biking or taking public transportation to the grocery store or you’d be waiting for your husband to be at home so you could buy the groceries (either together or by yourself). You’d also be stuck at home except for those alternate modes of transportation. You have to be willing to fully accept that. If you’re not, you’re immediately undoing one of the biggest sources of savings in making this move.

Children make this decision easier. The arrival of a child inserts child care costs into this equation. Quality child care often adds up to something approaching minimum wage over the course of a week, undoing the benefits of a minimum wage job. If you’re paying for a car as well, it’s very likely that the cost of child care plus the cost of the car will exceed the income from minimum wage work alone. If children are in your near-term future, staying at home becomes a brighter choice.

There will be an impact on other areas of your finances, too. You’ll likely see a small increase in home energy use, as you’ll want to keep the temperature at a reasonable level while you’re at home alone during the day, as well as lighting and other devices. However, your frugality won’t merely affect your food expenses. You can find projects that can cut down on your energy costs, entertainment costs (using the library, for instance), clothing costs, and many other areas.

So, what’s in favor of staying at work? Do you have opportunities for greater income on your career path? Is this a job that can lead to more income, either at your current workplace or at another one? Do you have genuine plans or hopes of increasing your income to a significant degree?

If you can’t answer those questions positively, then it means that a job or career switch is necessary in order to drastically improve your family’s financial situation.

There’s also the question of your marital situation. Is your spouse open to this type of change? Will it cause resentment? Will your husband expect to take a smaller role in household chores if thsi change occurs? You need to talk about these things openly before you even consider making this kind of change.

Although staying at home isn’t likely to create that giant shift in finances you’re looking for, it can certainly compare to a minimum wage job. However, to make it worthwhile, you have to approach it with serious and diligence. If you let it merely be a “break” from work, it will end up being a net loss for your family.

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If You Want a New Year’s Resolution to Actually Succeed, Start Now

Many people make New Year’s resolutions – I do it myself some years.They’re usually made with the best of intentions, with the hopes of creating some level of self-improvement. They also usually start off like gangbusters and then fall by the wayside by the start of February.Why does that happen?For starters, resolutions are often poorly planned. People rarely think of them seriously – or at all – until very close to the turn of the year. Sometimes, they don’t even think about it until after the calendar flips.Another problem is that the focus is on a very specific end result that sets up failure even in the face of success. “I’m going to lose fifty pounds this year” sounds impressive, as does …

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Many people make New Year’s resolutions – I do it myself some years.

They’re usually made with the best of intentions, with the hopes of creating some level of self-improvement. They also usually start off like gangbusters and then fall by the wayside by the start of February.

Why does that happen?

For starters, resolutions are often poorly planned. People rarely think of them seriously – or at all – until very close to the turn of the year. Sometimes, they don’t even think about it until after the calendar flips.

Another problem is that the focus is on a very specific end result that sets up failure even in the face of success. “I’m going to lose fifty pounds this year” sounds impressive, as does “I’m going to pay off all of my credit cards this year.” The problem is that even if you lost 40 pounds this year or you paid off all but one credit card, you’re still going to “fail” in terms of your goal.

Also, “big” goals can be inspiring, but they also make it easy to just say “it’s impossible” and give up on it once you blow through that initial rush of effort. Speaking of which…

A third problem is overdoing it early on. You’ve decided to exercise four times a week. You hit the gym on January 2nd like a ton of other people and you do four miles on the treadmill. You feel pretty good, but a little bit worn out because you went from essentially doing nothing to walking/jogging four miles. You wake up the next day and your legs feel like lead, plus you have foot blisters. You’re miserable. You push yourself to go a few more times, but you begin to associate those gym trips with misery and before long, you’ve written off the goal.

Another example: you’ve decided to improve your diet, so the first three days you eat like a raw vegan. On the fourth day, you’re practically starving, so you decide to “cheat” a little and have a slice of pizza. That barely does anything at all to your pent-up hunger and a day or two later, you’re eating like you’re ravenous. See you later, diet!

Another example: you decide to cut down on your unnecessary expenses. You don’t splurge for a week, but then a friend calls you up to go do something fun that you wouldn’t have thought twice about before. You decide you’ve been “good” and go do it because it’s “social” and it’s not really “spending money.” At the end of the month, you realize you’ve spent almost as much as you did in December, so you decide it’s all foolishness and give up.

This type of pattern repeats itself over and over again with all kinds of goals.

So, how do you build a New Year’s resolution that actually works?

First, know yourself. No matter how much you believe in your goal, you’re not going to have drastically different behaviors or fitness level or anything after the year changes. Don’t choose a goal that would require you to exhibit a behavior for a year that you can’t even pull off for a few days in a row right now, because it’s not going to happen.

Second, set up a goal that allows you to succeed every day. Rather than saying, “I’m going to lose fifty pounds this year,” simply say that “I’m going to eat a ‘vegan before six’ diet each day this year” or “I’m going to put at least a quarter in a jar under the sink each day this year and live off of the rest of my income.” That way, the goal for success each day is really clear so you can judge your success or failure solely in the short term.

Third, set up a goal that’s easy to succeed at but puts you in a place to achieve more each day. Don’t make your daily goal something that you’re going to have trouble pulling off in a row of days. For example, if you’re not used to exercise, saying “I’m going to run three miles each day this year” is begging for failure. Instead, simply say “I’m going to stand on the treadmill and turn it on each day this year.” Why? Your goal really is to just go to the gym or the exercise room each day, because if you get yourself to that point, you’re likely to exercise at least a little bit.

For that “jar” goal I mentioned above, the simple act of going to that jar to put in money is the success, but in the act of doing so, you’re likely to want to put in as much money as you can each day because it feels like an even bigger win.

Finally, remind yourself of that goal. I like sending text reminders to myself at roughly the time of day where I’m most likely to do it. A text reminder to exercise at a time that’s right near my first morning “eye strain prevention” break can really push me to go exercise, for example.

Take what you want from the year. Break it down into a daily goal. Make that goal really easy to achieve. Make that goal one that puts you in a place to do even more so it feels like a “big win” each day. Remind yourself of that goal so that it’s right in your mind.

Why start now? Thinking through a goal like this takes thought. You have to think about where you’re at. You have to think about what you really want. You have to devise a goal that really works. Most importantly, you need to have whatever support you need for that goal in place before it starts so that you can step right into it.

Now’s the time to start planning.

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Unique sighting of lava solves mystery

How Will the New Health Care Affect Cancer Treatment and Veterans? The…On MyBiologica.comHealth is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, it is the general condition of a person’s mind and body, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain.Alternative medicine is any of a wide range of health care practices, products and therapies, using methods of medical diagnosis and treatments which, at least up to the end of the twentieth century, were typically not included in the degree courses of established medical schools teaching medicine. Examples include homeopathy, Ayurveda, chiropractic and acupuncture.On MyBiologica.com all you are looking for about alternative medicine and health.Coming soon section with best cheapset health insurance offers for …

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Unique sighting of lava solves mystery

Scientists have made the first ever observations of how a rare type of lava continues moving almost a year after a volcanic eruption.

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Nov. 7, 2013 — Scientists have made the first ever observations of how a rare type of lava continues moving almost a year after a volcanic eruption.Researchers visiting the Puyehue-Cordón Caulle volcano in Chile in January this year found the obsidian lava flow was still moving, even though the volcano stopped erupting in April 2012.The research by an international team of scientists, led by Dr Hugh Tuffen and Dr Mike James from the Lancaster Environment Centre at Lancaster University, is published in Nature Communications.Obsidian lava is very thick and can barely flow, moving more like a glacier. This type of lava, rich in silica, forms a natural glass called obsidian when it cools and solidifies. This volcanic glass slowly inches forward as a thick, shattering crust of black rock that covers the oozing lava within.Dr Tuffen said: “We found out that the lava was still oozing after almost a year and it advances between 1 and 3 metres a day. Although it moves slowly, it could speed up or collapse if it were to reach a steep hill, and The team, which included Professor Jon Castro from the University of Mainz and Dr Ian Schipper from the Victoria University of Wellington, also made new discoveries about how the obsidian lava flows, pointing the way towards a new model of how lavas advance.Dr Tuffen said: “It looks like a solid cliff of crumbling rock up to 40 metres thick, that’s as thick as ten double-decker buses, but we found that hidden beneath this crust there is hot, slowly-flowing lava, at up to 900 °C, which can burst out of the edges of the lava flow and help it move forwards. This was previously thought to only occur in hot red flowing or basalt lava, but we have found that thick obsidian lava is actually pretty similar to its runnier cousins.”Although seldom seen, obsidian lava can be erupted at the end of some of the largest and most explosive eruptions on Earth, including supervolcanoes such as Yellowstone and the largest eruption of the 20th century, at Katmai in Alaska. However, the most recent opportunities to see obsidian lava moving have been the last three eruptions at Puyehue-Cordón Caulle volcano in Chile in 2011, 1960 and 1921. Obsidian from lava flows is strewn over many archaeological sites worldwide, as it was long a highly-prized and traded material used for knives, arrowheads and cutting tools. It still has surgical applications due to its remarkably sharp cutting edges.Dr Tuffen is funded by the Royal Society.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWPEfn5l–Qhttp://youtu.be/dWPEfn5l–Q

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An Experience at the Store with My Three Year Old Son

A few days ago, I found myself at a store with my three year old son. I had to stop in and pick up a few items because we had some extended family members visiting us.So, the two of us strolled through the store. He’s decided that he’s too big to ride in the shopping cart, so we have a simple rule that he has to either hold my hand or hold onto the cart while we’re in the store.Almost immediately, he asked to visit the toy section. I told him that if he was good, we could visit the toy section for five minutes on our way out of the store. That seemed to please him, so I found the items on my shopping …

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A few days ago, I found myself at a store with my three year old son. I had to stop in and pick up a few items because we had some extended family members visiting us.

So, the two of us strolled through the store. He’s decided that he’s too big to ride in the shopping cart, so we have a simple rule that he has to either hold my hand or hold onto the cart while we’re in the store.

Almost immediately, he asked to visit the toy section. I told him that if he was good, we could visit the toy section for five minutes on our way out of the store. That seemed to please him, so I found the items on my shopping list and put them in the cart while he behaved himself.

Because he did so well, we went to the toy section. I told him on the way there that we were only staying for five minutes and that we weren’t buying any toys today.

I bet you can guess what happened.

Very quickly, he found the single toy he wants most in the world – a Transformers Rescue Bot (which is a simple transforming robot toy that three year olds can easily manipulate). He spent the whole five minutes sitting there studying this toy and trying to play with it through the packaging.

When I told him it was time to go and that he had to put the toy back on the shelf, he went into meltdown mode. He pulled the “going limp” trick. He cried and shouted.

I promptly picked him up, put him in the cart, and left the store as quickly as possible.

There are a few things worth noting here.

First, there was no way on Earth I was giving in to his request for a toy. It simply was not going to happen. I made it clear to him that there would be no toys bought on that day and I stuck to my word.

Second, once he became upset and refused to leave, my goal was to exit the environment with him with as little fuss as possible. Again, there’s no negotiation here. He was allotted some time to look at toys and that time ended, so we leave.

What I’ve found is this: if you stick to the enforcement of these kinds of rules when they’re young and easy to carry, they abide by them much easier when they’re older. I sometimes had meltdowns like this with my other children when they were younger, and I responded by picking them up and removing them from the situation. I cannot recall the last time either one of my older children had such a meltdown.

In the end, though, this type of situation is all about learning impulse control, something that can be a struggle all throughout our lives.

One of my key roles as a parent is to give my children the cognitive and emotional tools they’ll need to be successful adults.

Throughout their lives, my children are going to find themselves in situations where they’re going to desire some material object. They’re going to want it so badly. They’re going to want to buy it now.

If they give into that impulse repeatedly, they begin to set up a pattern where they do not have to wait for material gratification. They view “having it now” as normal, and when it becomes possible for them to spend their own money (or their own credit) in such a way, they’ll continue that “have it now” mindset and spend with reckless abandon.

I did it myself, as have countless other adults out there who dug themselves a healthy debt hole.

Children are going to want things. The job we have as parents is to teach them to control those desires in an effective way that won’t lead them to financial ruin down the road.

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WordPress developer – by Dporte

L’acquisto di uno SmartPhone rappresenta sempre un momento particolare…AJAXAjax is the acronym for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML and is a group of interrelated web development techniques used on the client-side to create asynchronous web applications. With Ajax, web applications can send data to, and retrieve data from, a server asynchronously (in the background) without interfering with the display and behavior of the existing page. Data can be retrieved using the XMLHttpRequest object. Despite the name, the use of XML is not required (JSON is often used instead), and the requests do not need to be asynchronous. AJAX is not a new programming language, but a new way to use existing standards. AJAX is the right way of exchanging data with a server, and updating parts …

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WordPress developer – by Dporte

I am seeking the services of an experienced WordPress web designer and PHP , Ajax code expert. I have three projects that require ongoing work and will seek to provide at least 10-15 hrs of work each week for several weeks and very possibly, a lot longer for the right person… (Budget: $8-$15 AUD, Jobs: AJAX, MySQL, PHP, Software Architecture, Website Design)

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