Setting goals with children

Do you set family goals or include your children in the family goals?

My daughters really want two things:
1.) Our own house here in Canberra so we can have pets and a cubby house
2.) A trip to America

I want both of these things for us to. It's easy as a parent to just work the budget out, set the goal and work towards it without including in the kids too much until the goals is almost achieved.

I'm taking a different route.

My daughters express their desires to go to America and have our own house numerous times a week. I decided to sit them down and discuss it. They are only 4 and 6 but they understood a lot.

We talked about what I do to make money, the expenses we have and how we need to save. We discussed what we could do to save, what they might want to do with their pocket money (save it so they can buy things they like in America etc) and I got them money boxes.

We cut out pictures of our goals and we are all working toward it. When we are at the shops and they ask for things I say to them "Would you like that chocolate or would you like to put the money towards going to America?" Most of the time they choose America.

Setting these goals as family goals has made my life much easier. We are focused as a family on what we want, where we want to go and how to spend our money.

So, do you include your kids or do you set family goals?

Mortgage Insurance Explained

Mortgage insurance is insurance that protects your lenders’ interests. After you have been approved for a home loan, your monthly payments will be set, and you must make these payments on time every month. Sometimes, people fall on hard times and cannot make their payments even though they had every intention of doing so when they applied for their loans.

In the event that the above scenario occurs, you would be responsible for paying the remainder of the loan. However, it will be very unlikely that you will be able to afford to do so. For this reason, lenders require that Australians who are unable to offer a deposit of at least 20 percent of the purchase price have mortgage insurance.

If you are no longer in a financial position to make your monthly payments, your lenders will be entitled to seize the house and sell it. In some cases, the amount that they receive isn’t enough to cover what is owed on the property. If you have mortgage insurance, your lenders will receive payment for what you owe through the mortgage insurance policy.

How Much Does Mortgage Insurance Cost?

Generally, mortgage insurance will be paid in one payment when your loan is settled. The sum will depend on several factors, including the amount that you offer as a deposit and the type of loan that you obtain. In some cases, your lenders can add your mortgage insurance premium to the loan amount to reduce the sum that you will need to pay up front.

Is Mortgage Insurance Important?

Mortgage insurance isn’t necessary in 100 percent of the cases, but it can help you qualify for a home loan if you are unable to offer at least 20 percent of the purchase price as a deposit. The fact is that it’s not always possible for people to save 20 percent of the purchase price for the home of their dreams.

By obtaining mortgage insurance, Australians can borrow as much as 95 percent of what is needed to buy a house and only be required to offer 5 percent as a deposit. The money that you save from purchasing mortgage insurance can allow you to purchase a home sooner and have money to decorate as you see fit. You can purchase a home in a better neighbourhood by purchasing mortgage insurance. If you are buying a home that needs repairs, you will have more money to apply toward this expense, so mortgage insurance can be extremely helpful.

Make money doing medical experiments

Have you ever thought about getting paid to do medical experiments?

It might sound risky and depending on the medical experiment or clinical trial you choose to participate in the risks will vary. There are trials for everything from testing sleep patterns, to quite smoking programs right through to cancer treatments. 

The pay can be good, the higher the risk the higher the reward and you are covered by insurance should anything go wrong. By the time any medications get to the clinical testing on humans stage they have undergone numerous test to assess for side effects already. This doesn't make them completely safe but it does reduce the risks. 

Some trials look for healthy participants others require certain medical issues or addictions. Medical issues may be as simple as constant hay fever through spring right through to more serious afflictions such as cancer or smoking addictions.

Sometimes you will need to get confirmation from your doctor that you are fit (or ill) for the medical trial.

It is not a regular way to make money but you can make decent money here and there, which can help if you are struggling.

You can check for clinical trials if you are in Australia here.

Have you ever participated in medical experiments for cash?

Give the gift of joy

A couple of Christmases ago I was sleeping in a garage with my daughters. I was classed as homeless and had no idea until later. I just viewed it as my life. Hardly anyone knew about it. It's scary to think how many others are out there in the situation I was in and no one knows.

This year I am involved in giving the gift of joy, that is giving locally. I do a lot of charity work throughout the year mostly by volunteering my time or promoting events and things via my social media. I was stoked to join with Communities@Work here in Canberra for this campaign.

What ways do you love to give or help charities? Are there certain ones you support this time of year?

Will you be naughty or nice? Pick then grab some Christmas bonuses

One of the ways I make a little money is through online survey sites but Swagbucks is so much better because you earn points just from things like searching the web through their toolbar instead of Google! Plus they regularly do team challenges where teams get awarded bonus points for winning and you get extra points just for searching, doing quizzes, daily polls and watching things.

It is easy to join in and you get to pick your own team. I'm team Naughty!

Doing things like this is a great way to get started on saving points, earning rewards and gift cards to use throughout the year or for Christmas next year.