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How to Manage Money in the Family (Part 1)

Proper money management should be at the center of any relationship, because knowing how to manage money contributes to the success of any relationship. Great care should be taken when dealing with money matters within the family. We will examine three main components that contribute to good money management, these are; budgeting, saving and investing, and debt management.

The family should be seen as one unit; so therefore, each person’s action will affect the other. This is particularly a point to be mindful of when it comes to money earned by family members, in particular, husbands and wives. It is a fact that the husband is charged with the responsibility to provide for his family, however, due to the harsh economic climate, financial planning is sometimes shared between both husbands and wives. With this in mind, the income of both partners most be viewed as the family’s income and not their individual income.

With that said, let us consider the issue of budgeting. What is a budget? Well, simply put; a budget is an estimate of income and expenditure for a set period of time. In order to calculate your budget, you first have to know the amount of money coming in and the amount of money going out and when. Having a budget gives you a clear picture of where your money goes, and it also shows you where you might be able to save. In addition, a budget will help you to see whether or not you are living within your means. It can be a challenge to change the amount of money coming in, but you can control what goes out. So, before you buy that lovely pair of shoes you just have to have, you may do well to ask yourself, “Do I really need it?” Your answer to that question may surprise you.

A personal budget shows you exactly where your money is going, so you can determine if there is anything you can do without. No matter the amount of money you earn, making a budget is essential for effective money management.

How important is it to save? The fact is; if you are earning but not saving, it is as if you are trying to full a plastic bag with water that has a hole in the bottom. An impediment to savings has to do with how we view savings. It is common practice to ensure that our necessary expenses such as, utilities, food, rent, and mortgage are paid first, savings; however, is never usually seen as a necessary expense. We need to change this view; savings should be seen as a necessary expense, and as a result, should be given first priority. Here is something to consider, all expenses results in money leaving you; however, if savings is considered to be an expense, then it will be the only expense that pays you.

We must always think of ways to save money, even though this may be a challenge; a good place to start is to have our savings being deducted from our pay before we receive it. So, you are now ready to save as you have never done before; wait, it doesn’t end there, you are now ready for the next step; investing.  Now that we have managed to save some money, we now need to examine ways to invest what we have saved. This will be considered in our next article.   

Helpful Tips on Relationships

How helpful can showing respect to my marriage partner be? Why should I give meaningful consideration to this quality in my relationship? Should we seek relationship advice? We will examine these questions and a few relationship tips that when applied can go a far way in contributing to a successful marriage and good family relations.

What does it mean to show respect, well, showing respect means showing consideration for the feelings or rights of others. With this in mind, if we love our partner, then we should want to consider that person's feelings as doing this will certainly help relationships to get better and better each day. When we show respect, we will appreciate our partners even more and our love for our partner will increase. You might be saying, yes, right, that is easy for you to say, you do not know the person I have to deal with. Guess what, you are right, I do not know your partner, however, if that is the person you love so much that he or she is now your marriage partner, both of you will make every effort to have a healthy relationship.

This brings us to a another very important issue. We need to ask our selves what is a healthy relationship, and then ensure that we are doing everything we can to have one. These include, being kind and considerate to our partner, displaying an unselfish attitude, offer commendations when appropriate and things like these. We do not always have to buy our wives a very expensive gift for her to feel loved, often times, a cheap gift given when not expected may be appreciated even more. To be married is certainly a wonderful thing, but it can be challenging, resulting in marriage problems. Let's face it, two people from different backgrounds and circumstances living together will bring some amount of disagreement sometimes, however, us being able to work things out will greatly depend on the amount of love and respect we have for each other.
Seeking and applying good advice for relationships is one step in the right direction, and so, I must commend you for doing that.

10 Best Family Cars by Edmunds.com & Parents Magazine

How to Choose the Ideal Family Car

Choosing the ideal family car can be a challenge, however, with careful planning you can choose a good family car that will meet the needs of the family. For starters, it is good to determine exactly what the the possible destination you will be exploring. So, for example, you need to find out if the terrain is a rough one or a smooth one, because some of the top rated family cars might not be able to handle certain rough terrain. Safety should never be overlooked when deciding on a car for the family. This is particularly important when there are is children involved, some of the safest family cars have features such as child safety lock and Advanced frontal airbags. These systems designed for airbags has senses which consider factors like occupant size, seat position and crash severity to determine the level at which driver frontal and passenger frontal airbags will inflate. Another important feature of good family cars are their Anti-lock Braking System (ABS). This system actually prevents a vehicle's wheels from locking up by rapidly applying intermittent brake pressure. This system is usually activated during heavy braking applications, but lighter braking on slick roads may also cause it to activate.

The ABS has two main benefits: shorter stopping distances on slippery surfaces and the maintenance of steering control. It is a fact that a vehicle equipped with an ABS will not always stop more quickly than those without, however, it will give the average driver more control in emergency situations. Some of the safest family cars boost added braking features, such as BreakAssist which supplements the driver's braking effort with additional force to reduce stopping distances in emergency situations, and also, Electronic Brakeforce Distribution, which distributes the braking power more evenly among wheels with the objective of reducing stopping distance.

Every driver must always keep in mind the fact that in most cases, accidents can be prevented, so therefore, when choosing a family vehicle, safety features that prevents accidents should be considered. One such feature is the Tire Pressure Monitoring System. It is widely accepted that a tire will fail because of under inflation. The tire pressure monitoring system uses a dashboard warning light to let the driver know when a tire does not have enough air to be driven on safely. The larger the vehicle the more challenging it becomes to see what is behind you, when backing up. This is very critical in cases where there are small children around, such as when you are picking up your child after sports practice or after school. Rare Park Assist ensures that you are made aware of objects behind you when the vehicle is in reverse. It is the norm that notification comes via audible beeps, some systems however, use pillar mounted light displays as well. Some of the top rated family cars have installed rear mounted camera that projects an image onto the vehicles navigation screen, whenever the vehicle is put in reverse.

Rear end collisions usually results in whiplashes for the victims. Active head restraints serve to automatically close the gap between an occupants head and the head restraint. One other important matter to consider when buying a family car is the price. As the saying goes, you get what you pay for, So therefore, you should be prepared to shop around. There maybe some great deals being offered, but if you do not shop around, you may never benefit from those deals. We need to keep in mind the importance of value for money. So whether it is a cheap family car, or an expensive car, always pay attention to the value you are getting.

How to Maintain a Healthy Weight in Relationships

Maintaining a healthy weight can be a challenge for most people, however, consideration should be given to weight related issues in a relationship, particularly due to the connection that exist between health and weight. We will seek to examine the importance of eating healthy for weight loss, the secret behind eating what we like without packing on the pounds, and tips on how partners in a relationship can work together to maintain a healthy weight.

It is a fact that there are many weight loss plans out there, which can prove to be difficult to identify one that will work for you. The fact is that we all have different body types, despite this, however, we all can make good use of weight loss tips that may result in us achieving our goal. First, we need to visit our doctor to rule out any medical condition that may be hindering weight loss. Next, we need to develop good eating habits. For example, we need to avoid snacking on high calorie foods such as sweets and processed foods. Try to eat at least 3 meals consisting of protein, carbohydrate, vitamins and minerals before 6pm each day, with more emphasis placed on proteins and vegetables or low carb diet, also, do not forget to drink water.

After we have identified a few healthy recipes for weight loss and have developed a good eating habit, we now need to move, yes, move. We need to get involve in a good exercise program to burn the fat and get a good muscle tone. This will allow us to eat the foods we like, for example, ice cream, as long as we eat small portions at a time or eat in moderation. Partners in a relationship should focus on eating healthy, however, they can help each other to maintain a healthy weight by doing things together such as going walking together and encouraging each other to continue eating healthy to maintain a healthy weight, and maybe you will be able to dance as well as the lady in the video.

GOOD PARENTING

The family is the most important structure on the planet. Despite this reality, the family unit is usually overlooked and sometimes abandoned. What can be done to protect this vital structure? How can we maintain and strengthen family ties? How does good family structure contribute to nation building?

Families are the building blocks of societies, therefore, to have better societies we need to have better families. Having said that, we now need to identify where to start. Well, the best place to start is at the beginning, the parents. Parents play a very important and vital role in family life. Let us examine four things that we can do, that when applied, can significantly improve our family relations.

We need to be good role models for our children. Children are copy cats, so, if we are bad role models, they will copy it, the same is true if we are good role models. Secondly, we need to talk with our children. Let's face it, our children needs to let themselves be heard, by talking to and listening to them, we get to know what is on their minds. Knowing what they are thinking will help us to give meaningful advice. Thirdly, we need to get involved. The possibility of our children using illegal drugs will be greatly reduced if we get involved in their lives. We can do this by engaging in a number of activities such as, going to a movie, playing both indoor and outdoor games, preparing a meal, and helping with their home work just to name a few. Last we need to set rules. Children are not able to identify danger, so, someone else, usually the parents, have to identify their own danger, so, setting rules is one way to protect our children and they will thank us for it years to come.

It is not difficult to see that good family structures contribute to nation building. Within the family there are prospective doctors, teachers, nurses, engineers and the list goes on, when we make the effort to develop good family relations, we are actually laying the groundwork for future societies. As parents, let us do everything we can to cultivate good relations within our families.