Yet another delicious smoothie...

I guess I am on a roll with bumping up my weight loss. I went shopping today at Old Navy for their 30% off sale this weekend and boy was I excited to finally buy some clothes that fit properly! All of my new pants were size 8! I knew that I would fit into them, but to actually see the accomplishment that I have been working toward was so amazing. So, here is yet another smoothie to help all of you other women to maintain their healthy weight or lose weight that I just had to share.

Again, using the USANA nutrimeal:

3 scoops strawberry nutrimeal
1 cup crushed ice
1 cup water
1/2 cup frozen blackberries
1 cup frozen blueberries
a dash of banana extract

Blend up in a blender and serve in a huge cup! Here is your fully balanced meal! Blend your way to smaller jeans like I have!

New Smoothie Creation

Okay, so since the slender with a blender recipe book does not focus much on the strawberry nutrimeal, I have been experimenting like crazy. This creation (my dinner last night) is totally awesome!!!! The pictures above are of the smoothie, the white cup is filled with just one serving!

3 scoops Strawberry Nutrimeal (USANA)

1 cup crushed ice

1 cup cold water

1/2 frozen banana (this is from a small banana)

1 cup frozen raspberries

dash of vanilla extract (I used between 1/2-1 tsp)

Blend up in a blender until smooth...... yum, yum, yum!

If you do not have access to Strawberry Nutrimeal from USANA, please let us know by commenting in the comment section with your email address so we can email you information. This is a low glycemic alternative meal replacement that is a healthy way to lose weight or even maintain weight. I eat them when I am on the run with tutoring in the evenings so that I don't have to eat fast food and it is cheaper than buying a fast food meal as well!

Financial Planning

There are so many places to receive help when it comes to financial planning. Many of them cost money. Fortunately, if you are married to the military or in the military, there are a plethora of places to receive help for free.

Here are the links to a couple of sites:

https://www.navyfederal.org/ (I know that they provide financial counseling at all of their branch locations)

https://www.usaa.com/inet/ent_logon/Logon?&adid=icgsch30450316 (Because they do not actually have any physical locations, they will counsel you over the phone)

If any of you know of any other banks or credit unions that will provide this service complimentary, please let me know in the comment section. Hope this is helpful!

Great Blog Post

Here is another great post on our sister site about personal finance.

http://5000moms.ning.com/group/trainingessentials/forum/topic/show?id=3109589:Topic:5859&xg_source=msg_group_disc

Providing for your Childrens' future

Many of you have already begun to ponder how you and your spouse will put your children through college. It is never too early to begin and implement a plan now, whether your child is 2 or 18 and beginning their first semester this fall.

You may be thinking "college is so expensive," I just don't think we will be able to send Jr. to a university this year. The first thing for you to do is change that thinking to a more positive mien. You can and you will.

Let me begin by telling you about my own college experience ten years ago. I come from a split family; my parents divorced when I was in third grade, and it was always expected that I would go to college and get a degree. My mom was a nurse and my dad was a foreman at the company he worked for. Both of them made what I would consider to be middle class income.

Even though they both made a good wage, my mother had her own student loans that she was still paying back when it was time for me to go off to college. And so, my parents came up with a plan. My mom paid for my books and tuition and my dad paid for my living expenses. They went halvesies, and that worked for them. My mom had to take extra shifts in order to pay for her part because she hadn't planned for my future. She was willing to sacrifice.

The point I am trying to come across to all of you is that you don't have to wait until the last minute and "sacrifice" to put your children through college. So many parents believe that student loans are okay to have, but do you really want your child to begin their adult life having to pay back an exorbitant amount of money if you can plan now to help them out? I know I don't want that.

So, first things first. Let's take a look at what the average cost of four years of college are (this includes tuition, books, and living expenses).

• Tuition costs: if your child attends a university in state that is public, the average yearly tuition will range anywhere from $5000-$10,000 compared to out of state which will tack on an several extra thousand $15,000-$25,000. If you cut the above listed amount in half, that is what you will be paying per semester. My suggestion is that you have your child attend in state as this does lessen tuition costs.


• Books: These costs will vary depending on the course work and whether your student purchases used books or new books. Used books are definitely cheaper and most are in pretty good condition, but these are not always available, so be prepared to pay for new ones. Plan to spend anywhere between $300 and $600 per semester in books and learning supplies that your student will need. So per year your child will spend an average of $600-$1200 in books and supplies.


• Housing/food costs: This is where the topic can be a little fuzzy. There are several options for you. If your student is attending a university within driving distance, then they can reasonably remain at home and cut your costs of living expenses considerably. If they are living too far to commute to school, then apartment or dorm living is going to be the best bet. Dorm fees cover housing and a meal plan and average $10,000-$15,000 per year (10 mos). This typically covers their room and a meal plan that serves at least 2 meals a day. If you plan for your student to live on their own, then depending on where they will be living, do some research and average in total costs of monthly rent, electricity, water, trash, cable, telephone/internet, food costs, gas costs.


• If your student goes to a private university, your costs will be higher. Plan to pay upwards of $21,000-$40,000 per year for tuition and an average of $10,000-$20,000 per year for books/living expenses. These rates are higher because private universities do not typically get government funding so they are paying their "own way".

Now, the question is, how do I pay for this? Just in tuition for four years, you will pay between $20,000 and $40,000. For this article, we will pick the midpoint of $30,000 just for tuition. For the sake of argument, let's say my student will live in a dorm for those four years, leaving me paying at the midpoint of $50,000 for dorm fees and about $900 per year in books/supplies for a total of $3600. So I am looking at a total expense for four years of college at $83,600. You may be looking at that number and screaming at the screen right now! There are other options, this is just an example of what four years can cost your student. Now imagine them paying for that plus interest. Already, you have put them in the hole for loans for about $100,000. That is definitely not something I want my children to have to deal with.

Early planning is key. Here are some steps for you to being with for beginning college funds.

• Step 1: open a college savings account per each of your children (we have two open for our two children). If you don't have a USAA account, I suggest you open with them. They have great financial advice and can get you where you need to be.


• Step 2: put $50-$100 per month away per child- you'll find at the end of a year, you'll have already saved up between $600-$1200 per child.


• Step 3: when each account has reached an amount of about $3,000 move the money into a money market (CD) account. These accounts have a higher paying interest with one requirement of a minimum initial amount. This is a key step!


• Step 4: talk to your bank about a college savings plan if you already have accounts open for your children's future.


• Step 5: watch the amounts grow! Before you know it- especially if you began when your child was 2- you will see that paying for college is very affordable.

Also, don't be afraid to look for an apply for scholarships. There are so many out there for students and half of them aren't being utilized. Depending on your state, there may also be other "programs" available for the children of service members. Each state will differ, so just do your research.

Getting Your Family Out of Credit Card Debt

Today in America, we have a serious problem with credit card debt leading to our financial ruin. I am sure most or all of you have had or will have issues with accruing debt through the use of credit cards. With the current events of the American economy, credit card debt is becoming a major downfall of the average to lower income earning families. Many of us are not being taught by our parents what to even look for in a credit card company when we open up that first account. I know my parents didn't.

Flash back about ten years ago. I was a new college student; out on my own for the first time in my life, and excited about it. I got that first application in the mail and thought, "sure, I need this just in case of an emergency". I still remember that first card. Visa... it sang to me. That first card turned into three. I added a Victoria Secret card and a Macy's card by the end of that first year of school. You must keep in mind I was 18 and worked only a part time job of less than 20 hours a week.

I eventually got into a pickle with these bills. I was spending more than I was making and as my parents paid for my college tuition, I had to make B's or better in all of my classes. The job ended up having to go when those grades began to slip. For three years, I continued to spend and only pay the minimum on my cards; even as I bounced from part time work to unemployment.

No one taught me how to budget or even how to be frugal. I saw something and I wanted it, until I was in such a jam that my mom had to bail me out. I eventually married and we took out a personal loan at a bank to pay off all of the credit card debt that I had accrued and closed each of those accounts down one by one.

I have had to learn the hard way how to be a smart spender and budgeter because we forget as we charge onto our plastic that we have to pay that money back or interest will accrue on the amounts we have spent, meaning we spend more money than if we had just paid cash.

So here are some things to do if you find yourself in the same place I did ten years ago and you feel hopeless to ever pay the debts completely off. There is hope!

1. Stop charging! You should pay cash as much as possible so that you don't "over-spend" from your bi-weekly or monthly budget. If there is something you absolutely feel you need, save up for it. It is so much more gratifying when you have worked hard to save and make that purchase.

2. Transfer balances to a low interest card. If you have an account whose interest is 21% or above, close it down! You will never pay the accrued and interest amount off. Your minimum payment for this interest amount goes mostly to the interest that has accrued for the month. The minute the card is closed, interest stops accruing on it, so you can pay it off.

3. Pay debts off smallest to largest. If you have several accounts open, pay the smallest amount first and then close the account.

4. Try dividing your monthly minimum payment in half and paying this smaller amount twice a month. This will help by allowing you to have a little more income in between those pay checks and help your budget become more balanced. My husband and I pay all of our bills this way, even our house hold. We have found that we have more disposable income this way and now we don't have to charge on our credit card.

5. Make micro payments. If you find yourself with some extra cash, use it as an extra payment to a card. You should try and pay a little more than the minimum payment each month so that more money is going toward the principle amount on the card rather than the monthly interest balance.

6. Seek some part time work to help you pay your accounts off. If you don't have enough disposable income to pay off the overwhelming balances, mow some lawns! Every penny helps bring those numbers down.

7. Close those accounts down! We have made it a rule in our house that our one card is for emergencies only. Make a plan and stick to it. This may mean you do a bit of sacrificing, but isn't that what all moms do?

You can get out of debt. Learn about average credit card interests and make sure that your cards don't have those extreme rates. If they do, those should be closed immediately so that you can pay the amounts off. Remember that the higher your debt becomes, the worse your credit score becomes. As a last resort, you can contact companies that deal with debt resolution. They will close the account for you and pay off the accrued debt. You end up paying them back at a much smaller interest rate.

Busch Gardens, etc.

Thought this was pretty cool. Throughout 2010 Anheuser-Busch is offering free entry to their parks for all active duty, reservist and national guardsmen. Check it out here.

Thanks goes to www.mysavings.com

Fun stuff!

Happy Monday to all of our wonderful readers!
LeeAnne and I have really been trying to figure out a way to reward you, our fans/readers for helping us get the word out there about our blog. So I have come up with an idea. When we reach 50 followers, we will do a drawing for a free USANA product. And every 50 after that we will do another drawing. So spread the word and win free product!

Moving Abroad

Today's topic is moving OUTCONUS. There is always a chance that you may at some time during either yours or your spouse's service in the military that you may make a move overseas. Some of the major things you will want to do before you ever get ready to move are as follows:

1. Get a passport. If you have never had a passport before, it can take six weeks or longer to get it in the mail after you apply. The time is shorter if you already have one and are renewing it. You will need one for when you travel without orders.
2. If you are not allotted a POV (personally owned vehicle) at your new duty station, you will want to prepare it for storage. Storage is provided by the government and they do turn your vehicle on once a month while you are gone to keep it in working order.
3. Visit www.militaryonesource.com to find information about your new duty station and meeting any and all of your personal needs (jobs, child care, schools, healthcare providers). This site also has each branch of the military so that you can get information specific to your affiliated branch.

The government will be moving you, so please read my previous article when the government does a full move for you. You will have a limitation for weight, and you may not want to take all of your possessions. If you decide to leave some of your things in the states, you will need to ensure that they are safely stored as the government will not do that.

If you have pets, you will want to enquire if you can bring them with you. Hawaii and Alaska are considered OUTCONUS moves as well. Hawaii has a 30 day minimum quarantine for pets, so be prepared. This is to ensure that no diseases are brought onto the island to be spread to the native animals. Quarantines will be required at other installations as well, so be sure to check your duty station's policy. Some duty stations will have a no pet policy so make sure you have a plan should that occur.

The best advice I can provide for this type of move is to research, research, research! Do your best to know where you are going and what is available.