Hi all! This weekend I’m trying something new (because I’m all about experimenting here at CMO) that I’ve thought about for a while now. Today I’m going to go through all the news and articles I’ve read this week that I think you need to know. Interesting articles from around the web and from my friends will be listed here, and I hope you find them as cool as I did! If folks like this, I’ll make it a regular feature here.
So here’s all the news fit to peruse this week in money, work, and frugal family life.
Money
Is working mom guilt holding you back? I’ve talked before about how you just can’t expect to do it all as a working mom. There’s no secret to looking amazing, spending 20 hours a week at the gym, being a perfect mom there for every during and after work event, with a spotlessly clean house, perfect children, and an amazing, demanding dream career. Money also talks more about how there’s a parenting fantasy holding us back. Bottom line – decide what’s important to you, let go of the fantasy, and live life on your own terms.
Kara from Bravely Go and Tanja from Our Next Life just launched their podcast, The Fairer Cents, this week. The episode I listened to was all about managing money as a couple. Both Tanja and Kara earn less than their spouse/partner, and it was interesting to hear about what that’s like. I’ve been the higher earner since I was married, at first by just a little, then by a lot, and now I support our family of five on my salary alone. So hearing from another perspective is really interesting to me. Be sure to check it out!
Feminist Financier talks about how to set money goals that align with your values. I’m a huge fan of goal setting, making sure they’re SMART (Specific Measurable, Actionable, Relevant, Time-Bound) ones, and making sure your actions align with your values and ultimate dreams. After all, you don’t want to be frittering away your money on, say, ice cream from an expensive ice cream parlor if your actual goals are both to save money and be healthier (although yum, ice cream).
Work
I’ve had an affinity for Japanese culture for years. In college I took Japanese language lessons, and my husband and my husband and I went to Japan for our honeymoon. One thing I always found interesting was that in Japan, much more so than in the US, there is a lot of cultural pressure for a woman to leave the workforce when she’s married or becomes a mother. Nowadays career women are challenging those cultural norms, which is nice to see. The prime minister supports this through an initiative called “Womanomics”. I don’t particularly care for the name, but hey, you’ve got to start somewhere.
I hope you didn’t miss this weeks breadwinning mom interview, but if you did be sure to go check it out. This week’s story is all about a trailblazing mom, whose husband stayed home and cared for their four kids while she had a demanding career. This is amazing enough, but she did it in the 1980’s! If you’ve missed any of the entries in the series, or you’re looking for updates on their lives, be sure to visit my one-stop breadwinners shop. (link)
Sadly half of working women say they’ve experienced harassment, characterized as unwelcome advances, verbal or physical harassment. For more details check out this poll. Lately there’s been a lot of media attention to the sexual harassment issues plaguing a lot of companies, and it’s sad to see this statistic. After all, women at work just want to work, not be harassed while they’re there.
My friend Adventure Rich wrote this week about preparing for work travel when you’re a mom. I can empathize and published an article a few months ago about traveling for work as a breadwinning mom. Safe travels Mrs. AR!
As a woman who’s worked in IT for her entire career, I pay close attention to the happenings in Silicon Valley. Sadly it looks like gaps to take maternity leave are still frowned upon. There’s a feeling that tech moves so fast, if you take time off you’ll be out of the loop. Sadly half of all women leave STEM careers within 12 years. I suppose I’m one of the survivors.
My friend Penny went back to work this week after maternity leave. She wrote all about how she was leaving behind the best job she’s ever had, and it brought me right back to when I came back from leave after my three boys were born. I only had six weeks leave with each of them, though. When I mentioned the six weeks on Twitter, folks were shocked it was so short – but you do what you need to do. I hope you had a good first week back Penny!
Frugal Family Life
Looking to save money when it comes to kids activities? I love finding inexpensive, fun things to do with my boys (although we are going to NYC this weekend-hopefully we get out without too much wallet damage!). Check out an article over on my friend Steve Goodwin’s site, My Family On a Budget, on some fun activities that kids love and will help them learn good financial lessons.
Wisebread talks about four questions you need to answer before you get your kids a credit card. (I think my friend Mr. JumpStart might be interested in this one, given that it’s one of his favorite subjects to write about). My oldest son is fourteen now, and starting to approach the age where he’s going to need to gain some serious money management skills. I’ll file this one away as a resource to use once he’s a bit older.
That’s The News This Week
Let me know what you think in the comments, or hit me up on Twitter! Hope you found this round-up as interesting as I did.
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Thanks for thinking of me. The content of the kids credit card article is right up my alley, but some of the advice sounds kind of insane.
The article suggested kids pay for HALF of their personal credit card purchases, with their own allowances. Why would I teach a kid a lesson that leads them to believe using a credit card DOUBLES their purchase power?
When my kids first got authorized user cards, they only used them for things parents pay for, like haircuts, or a gallon of milk for the fridge. The kids used prepaid debit cards for their personal spend. Any money on their card was there because the kid had either earned or been given the money. At larger family Christmas parties, my kids would immediately bring their cash gifts to me. Then, I would transfer some money to their savings, and some to their prepaid debit cards.
Well, I have to go jot down notes for a post now.
Glad it could help give you some ideas!
I like this format, Liz. It gives me a chance to discover new content I know has been vetted for quality. I also like that I can cherry-pick the topics that are most important to me.
Thanks!