"Why bother about winter," said the Grasshopper, "we have plenty of food in the present." I love Aesops Fables, the kids and I read them together. They are great learning tools for life situations. Reading the fable of "The Ant and the Grasshopper," I realized my children are not the only ones that can take lessons from these fables.
Here is a brief synopsis. Two bugs, a grasshopper and an ant, hold a conversation. The grasshopper isn't so wise in this story as he tells his friend, the ant, that there is no need to further prepare for the winter by gathering more food. By the time winter is almost to an end the grasshopper is dying from starvation and the ant is still living off of the "savings."
This past week our military community ran the risk of not getting paid due to a possible government shutdown. It is deplorable to think that our military could go without pay but it is also discouraging to realize the financial disservice that we have done to ourselves as a community.
With each paycheck, who does your family pay first? Please don't take offense- or maybe do, maybe by taking offense at that question we will start to think about who we pay first.
I see many military families that are wiling to pay out before they pay in. Strapped down with: car loans, motorcycle payments, cable, cell phones, housing costs that exceed their family's Basic Allowance for Housing and credit card(s). Maybe the expense is something we think that we need, or maybe it really is a necessity. Each family and their set of needs are different. However, for a good majority of families there is a clear distinction between needs and wants.
A few of my family's basic needs are: food, shelter, clothes and gas. My husband (yes, I just put him on blast) wants his newer truck and motorcycle. One of the two vehicles would be a need; since we both work outside of the home but neither needed to be newer and I can definitely think of one that was a want.
At some point I sat back and realized that it was asinine that our family was spending several hundred dollars a month paying other people with our hard earned money. It was asinine that we weren't putting a portion of that pay into savings (other than his Thrift Savings Plan). So I set up a monthly automatic allotment; so that we would never see the funds. If we didn't pay ourselves first through an automatic allotment, even with the best intentions, the money would never see the inside of the savings account. This first started out small; with each item of debt that we have been able to scratch off our monthly budget we can add that much more to the savings. We had to give up a few things; eating out on a whim doesn't happen as much but our pocket books and bellies look that much better for it.
As a military community we get into the mindset that the paycheck will hit the bank account the 1st and 15th of each month; there is a false sense of security there. There are not many families think about the what-ifs; because we hope the what-if's never happen to us. But what-if: someone in my family back home got sick, what-if there was a DFAS mix-up and the check was short, what-if the car breaks down or the dog gets sick? Military financial aid societies do exist but what-if (darn that is a dirty phrase) the Law of Uncle Murphy moves in. (Anything bad that can happen will and it will all be at once.) Military aid societies have their limitations too.
If the only thing that we take out of the scare of the government shut-down is that nothing is truly guaranteed than maybe the "scare" wasn't all that bad. It didn't happen; but what can happen now is that your family can review its finances. You can enroll in a budgeting class through your branch of services family team building or ask to go over a budget with a caseworker at the military aid society. You may be able to realize that the $20 a week in Starbucks isn't essential and if you put that amount into savings you would have a little over a grand at the end of the year.
Make a pledge with me- become a family of Ants; chose to prepare for the "winter."
Monday, April 11, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
I know what you......PERSEC
*True happenings from a our lives in 2004.*
Kids in bed, check. A glass of wine, check. My favorite show on, check. Phone next to me while I await my husband to call from half way around the world check. The makings of a perfect evening!
The phone rings and a husky unfamiliar voice says, "I can see what you are wearing." My heart begins to beat faster. I am fully clothed, but as I peek out my second floor apartment windows closing my blinds as I go, I wonder who is watching me. Then the scary voice, that sounds to me like the voice from "I Know What You Did Last Summer," said "I know your husband is gone." Shakingly I picked up my cell phone and began to call the Military Police, they answer and I tell the MP's in a whisper what is going on. They advise me to stay on the phone for as long as I can so the Military Police track where the call came from. The creepy voice then begins to tell me what his plans for me are, I cry and scream "I am calling the cops," he hangs up. The almost perfect evening became petrifing quickly. Later I find out that there have been many other wives with deployed husbands that have received similiar phone calls; nothing serious ever happened, with the exception of other brave women becoming scared of the night.
While the events of the night were not warranted and certainly not justified, I began to wonder if I had done anything to advertise my situation. My yellow ribbon sticker soon thereafter got ripped off of my vehicle. I became very careful to whom I mentioned that my husband was deployed- no more idle chit-chat in the supermarket check-out lane about the hardships of deployment on my family. While I doubt that the person that made the call was someone that I met at the store, how would they have gotten my number, I became more aware of the fact that these people could follow me home. I became more aware of what I posted on the internet.....I no longer made mention of: wanting my husband home or another birthday alone. While all of those things were still true, the phone call made me realize I wasn't protecting my family.
This post is a Public Service Announcement. Bad things can and do happen to good people- its the sad reality of the world. Take the necessary precautions to ensure you and your family is safe while your service member is deployed. Just like OPSEC (operational security) is enforced to protect our service members, we should enforce PERSEC (personal security) in our lives. Think twice before you throw on your "Half my Heart is in...." shirt, or before posting about your day with a countdown of the number of days until your service member gets home. Even before making small talk at the local store. Treat your personal security like you would your financial security. There are very few people that I would share my financial information with.
Kids in bed, check. A glass of wine, check. My favorite show on, check. Phone next to me while I await my husband to call from half way around the world check. The makings of a perfect evening!
The phone rings and a husky unfamiliar voice says, "I can see what you are wearing." My heart begins to beat faster. I am fully clothed, but as I peek out my second floor apartment windows closing my blinds as I go, I wonder who is watching me. Then the scary voice, that sounds to me like the voice from "I Know What You Did Last Summer," said "I know your husband is gone." Shakingly I picked up my cell phone and began to call the Military Police, they answer and I tell the MP's in a whisper what is going on. They advise me to stay on the phone for as long as I can so the Military Police track where the call came from. The creepy voice then begins to tell me what his plans for me are, I cry and scream "I am calling the cops," he hangs up. The almost perfect evening became petrifing quickly. Later I find out that there have been many other wives with deployed husbands that have received similiar phone calls; nothing serious ever happened, with the exception of other brave women becoming scared of the night.
While the events of the night were not warranted and certainly not justified, I began to wonder if I had done anything to advertise my situation. My yellow ribbon sticker soon thereafter got ripped off of my vehicle. I became very careful to whom I mentioned that my husband was deployed- no more idle chit-chat in the supermarket check-out lane about the hardships of deployment on my family. While I doubt that the person that made the call was someone that I met at the store, how would they have gotten my number, I became more aware of the fact that these people could follow me home. I became more aware of what I posted on the internet.....I no longer made mention of: wanting my husband home or another birthday alone. While all of those things were still true, the phone call made me realize I wasn't protecting my family.
This post is a Public Service Announcement. Bad things can and do happen to good people- its the sad reality of the world. Take the necessary precautions to ensure you and your family is safe while your service member is deployed. Just like OPSEC (operational security) is enforced to protect our service members, we should enforce PERSEC (personal security) in our lives. Think twice before you throw on your "Half my Heart is in...." shirt, or before posting about your day with a countdown of the number of days until your service member gets home. Even before making small talk at the local store. Treat your personal security like you would your financial security. There are very few people that I would share my financial information with.
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