Tag Archives: benefits

Marry Now, Celebrate Later, Save Money and Your Marriage?

Why do we make such a big deal about weddings? More specifically, why do we spend so much on weddings? The Average Price of a Wedding I stumbled across a site called Cost of Wedding that says the average price of a wedding in the United States is between $14,000 and $43,000. (You can also enter your zip code on this site to find out what the average cost of a wedding is in your immediate area.) This figure accounted for everything except: the engagement ring, bridal consultant or wedding planner (if any), bridal shower invitations, gifts from guests, honeymoon, … Continue reading →

Do You Love Your Spouse or Their Salary?

The other day Wayne and I got to talking about marriage, money, and respect. We’ve both known several people who divorced their spouses once they started bringing home the bigger paycheck. Specifically, women who divorced their husbands because they earned more than he did. “It has to do with respect,” Wayne said when we were talking about a particular friend. “She never had much respect for him to begin with. So once she started earning more, she lost what little she’d had.” “That’s pathetic!” I said. “If I ever made more than you it wouldn’t change how I felt about … Continue reading →

Marriage with Benefits

Have you heard the expression “friends with benefits?” In case you haven’t, it means that you have a friend you can be sexually intimate with without the other strings attached. (i.e. No commitment issues like boyfriend/girlfriend titles or exclusivity claims. You hook up at will and go your separate ways afterwards.) Attitudes Towards Marriage Why is it that so many people see marriage as negative? As a trap or something that will stifle them as an individual? On some level I realize the general attitude towards marriage is one of sacrifice. You’re going to have to give up a part … Continue reading →

What Are You Willing to Pay For?

There is a myth out there that all single parents are frugal and cheap. While I have yet to meet a single parent who did not keep at least one key eye on the budget and I would definitely lump myself in that group, I also know that efficiency and saving time are issues for single parents too. If you find that you are pinching that penny a little too tightly, it might be time to take into account what you can save by spending a little money… I am often willing to pay a little extra for shipping and … Continue reading →

Are You Making Any Money?

We talk about just nearly every aspect of organizing and running a small home business here in the Home Business blog; we talk about budgets and clients and customer service. I thought that we should probably talk about the bottom line here today—let’s talk about that question we may either want to ask or ourselves or are avoiding facing the truth: Are we actually making any money? I know that money is not the only indicator of success and many of us evaluate our home businesses with other criteria in addition to revenue. We may not be looking to make … Continue reading →

Is This Work Worth the Money?

In the beginning of our businesses, most of us expect to work long hours and NOT see the immediate reflection of our work in our bank accounts. As we grow our businesses, however, it stands to reason that our time should become more valuable and we may find that we can begin evaluating how much time we are spending on a particular project or with a particular customer and ask ourselves whether the work we are doing is equal to the money we are getting paid? I know there are those people who prefer to just do the work and … Continue reading →

Is it Worth your Time?

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Okay, I just finished painting in our new house today and I found myself asking this question “is it worth the time?” I ask it, because while I was doing this backbreaking work… I kept wondering what it would cost to pay someone else to paint. I have often taken the approach that if I can do it, I should. Why pay someone to do something I am capable of doing? I certainly have to pay enough to others to do the things I am not able to do – like fixing my car or the leaky toilet. Certain repairs … Continue reading →

Is it Just Me?

Take a moment to look through some of the magazines in your home, or if you don’t have any, pick up a copy of one of the prominent ones sometime. Do you feel like it was written with someone like you in mind? While many magazines do a great job of covering topics that a number of women can relate to (budget, diet, exercise, clothes, hair, make up, medicine, cooking/recipes, cleaning, decorating, raising kids, careers, cars, and more) there are times when I question what “everyday” or “average” really means. I recently looked through some lists of what were supposed … Continue reading →

What Else Has Value in Your Business (Besides Money)?

We know that keeping track of our bottom line means paying attention to revenue and expenses—but in addition to money, there are things that have value in our businesses that we can consider as part of the “perks” or part of the overall value of our business operations. When I think of other things besides money, I am thinking of things like frequent flyer miles, flexible time, and other perks that are specific to the type of work you do. If you receive samples from vendors or are able to attend conferences and events as part of your job, or … Continue reading →

Your Marriage Benefiting from Recession?

As I’ve repeated more than once in various articles, I’m a huge fan of Sarah Ban Breathnach and her Simple Abundance approach to life. Speaking of Simple Abundance, if I’m remembering correctly it was born during a time when another recession was under way. Back in the early 1990s. Ms. Breathnach wanted to find a way to get more out of life with less, not just materially but spiritually too. So she revamped her life and her way of thinking about life and created what has become a transformative guidebook instructing other women how to achieve both as well. This … Continue reading →