Beating Broke

How We’re Helping Our Teen Save for College

February 10, 2020 By MelissaB Leave a Comment

College is getting more expensive every year, and with the student loan crisis, more and more students and parents are trying to forego student loans. Avoiding student loans, if possible, is a smart way to go. We should know; my husband and I are still paying off his student loans from graduate school, which he finished eight years ago. So, we want to do everything we can to help our own children go to college without accruing any debt. How we’re helping our teen save for college involves a multi-pronged approach.

How We’re Helping Our Teen Save for College

There are four ways we’re helping our teen save for college:

Using an Employee Discount

My husband is employed at our local university, so our children will get 75% off the price of tuition. While this school currently costs approximately $12,000 for in-state tuition for a year, our children, thanks to the discount, will only need to pay $3,000 a year.

Matching Our Teen’s Savings

From the time our children were young, we set up a savings account for college. We match each dollar that our child saves in this account. Our three children all have varying balances, and one of our children is a much more prolific saver than the other two. While this account won’t cover their $3,000 a year that they will have to pay for college, it will likely cover their textbooks for several semesters.

Paying for AP Tests

How We're Helping Our Teen Save for College — Photo by Ben Mullins on Unsplash

Our teen is bright and this year decided to challenge himself with an AP history course. We paid for the AP test that he will take in May. If he scores a 4 or a 5 on this test, he will be able to earn college credit for the course.

Next year, he plans to take several AP classes and tests, and we’ll pay for those, too, in the hopes that he can score high enough and reduce the amount of time he needs to be in college.

Finding Scholarships

Our teen took a practice PSAT at school, and while his score was okay, it wasn’t stellar. Since he has a 4.0 in school, if he can raise his SAT score by at least 100, he will qualify for a $6,000 scholarship from our university. (The higher the scores, the higher the scholarship amount he qualifies for. If he could get his score even more than 100 points higher, he would qualify for an even larger scholarship.)

We don’t have money to pay for SAT tutoring, but having it would be valuable, especially if it helps our child raise his score and qualify for the scholarship. I found a scholarship offered through a private foundation that could be used for SAT prep. We applied, received the scholarship, and he’s begun tutoring this semester.

Final Thoughts

Money has been tight throughout our marriage, so we’ve never had much money to set aside for our children’s college education. (Our priority has been paying off our student loans and saving for retirement.)

However, helping a child in other ways rather than just paying tuition outright can also be valuable. This is how we’re helping our teen save for college.

How to Feed Your Family on a Low Budget

February 8, 2020 By MelissaB Leave a Comment

If you have a low income or you’re paying down debt, saving for retirement or college, or just want to be a good steward of your money, you may want to keep your grocery budget as low as possible. According to the USDA, the average cost to feed a family of four for a month based on their thrifty guidelines is approximately $646.80. You may be wondering how to feed your family on a low budget and spend less than or equal to the USDA’s thrifty guidelines. Doing so is challenging, but it can be done. Here are some strategies that will help you:

Cook at Home

Eating out will cost you more, plain and simple. If you’re trying to keep your food bill in check, cook at home for all of your meals. You’ll save hundreds of dollars a month by choosing to eat at home versus eating at a restaurant.

Get Back to the Basics

You can eat nutritiously without breaking the bank. Find simple recipes that nourish your body and save you money. Some examples include vegetarian soup, noodle soup, chili, spaghetti, etc. Make sure that you serve a generous side (or two or three) or fruits and vegetables to stretch your main dish.

Use Low Cost Proteins

How to Feed Your Family on a Low Budget — Photo by Anh Nguyen on Unsplash

If you’re on a budget, you likely won’t be eating steak. Instead, go for the cheaper types of proteins such as ground meat, chicken legs and thighs, beans, tofu, and cheese.

Use Healthy Carbohydrate Fillers

When you’re eating carbs at a meal, choose the least expensive but still nutritious carbs such as brown rice and sweet potatoes or Russet potatoes. Remember, carbohydrates have a place in your meal, but you likely don’t want the majority of your meals to be based around carbs. Instead, also focus on fruits and vegetables.

Consider Growing a Veggie Garden

If you’re able, consider growing a vegetable garden. You don’t need a lot of space to do this. If you have no space, consider an herb garden that you can grow on your kitchen window sill. If you’re in an apartment or have a small yard, you can grow some veggies in pots on your patio or balcony. Be creative!

Utilize Frugal Websites

Have a few frugal recipe websites in your repertoire to save. Sites like Budget Bytes, Good Cheap Eats, and $5 Dollar Dinners have delicious, healthy, frugal recipes. Consult these sites regularly for new ideas. All of these sites also have vegetarian recipes, which will help you save by limiting your meat consumption.

Make a Few Freezer Meals

If you make a meal and have ample leftovers, consider freezing some of it. Also, when you make a meal, you can intentionally make extras by doubling the recipe. Then put one serving in the freezer. Freezer meals are the perfect way to help you save money when you have a busy day and don’t have time to cook or when you have an unexpected event such as a child who is sick so you can’t get to the store.

Final Thoughts

Learning how to feed your family on a low budget is possible, you just have to be strategic when it comes to grocery shopping and meal planning.

4 Ways TV Watching is Hurting Your Finances

February 3, 2020 By MelissaB Leave a Comment

There’s nothing better after a long, hard day of work than to kick back and watch your favorite television show. However, what you consider to be a harmless way to unwind may be affecting your wallet in ways that you hadn’t even considered. In fact, there are 4 ways TV watching is hurting your finances.

Expense of Cable

At the most obvious level, you’re paying money to have the television set, pay for the cable, and use the electricity. If you still have cable, you’re likely paying $60 or more for the privilege of watching a wide variety of channels. That is at least $720 a year. If you’ve broken up with cable, congratulations, you’re saving yourself some serious money.

4 Ways TV Viewing Is Hurting Your Finances — Photo by freestocks.org on Unsplash

However, you likely pay for Netflix or other similar programs. You might be spending as little as $11 a month on this, so you’re looking at approximately $130 a year, much better than paying for cable. While you can pat yourself on the back for this smart move, know that watching shows is still costing you money, but in different ways.

Unrealistic Expectations

Watching television shows and movies can fill you with unrealistic expectations. While you may make a modest salary and be in the market for a modest house, thanks to shows like House Hunters, you expect a large master suite, a perfectly manicured lawn, and a three car garage. Your expectations have been elevated outside the realm of your own budget thanks to television.

Likewise, you may see characters like Rachel on Friends struggling to make it working as a coffee shop waitress, yet she wears glamorous clothes and has a nice New York City apartment. This is not reality, but television isn’t about being real. It’s about selling a dream, and most of the audience accepts the dream at the cost of their own finances.

Takes Time Away from Other Pursuits

The average American aged 35 to 49 watches five hours of television a day! (NY Daily News). That is 35 hours a week. Imagine all of the other things you could do with that time. You could invest your time in growing your income, whether that means a side hustle, going back to school to increase your future income, taking online classes, or reading a book. Your time could be used in so many other productive ways. Plus, advertisers would not be able to reach you as they reach those passively watching television, which means you’d likely keep more money in your pocket.

Health Issues

Finally, those 35 hours of passive television watching can take quite a toll on your health. Not only are you likely to indulge in unhealthy snack foods while watching television, you’re also not exercising. Years of excessive TV watching can lead to an increase in weight and health issues. In fact, according to CNN, researchers discovered that “for every additional two hours people spend glued to the tube on a typical day, their risk of developing type 2 diabetes increases by 20% and their risk of heart disease increases by 15%.”

While watching television may seem like a harmless pastime, keep in mind how much it’s really costing you. If you want to relax, consider grabbing a book instead or hanging out with friends.

How much television do you watch? Do you agree that T.V. viewing is affecting your finances, or do you not feel it has an effect?