Sunshine Blogger Award – Thank You!

I have been nominated for the Sunshine Blogger Award.  The Sunshine Blogger Award is an award for bloggers from bloggers.  It is a way to recognize bloggers who are positive and creatively inspire others, so I am feeling awesome after receiving this nomination from my fellow bloggers – thank you!

I would like to thank JT, M and Connor from justmakingcents.com for the nomination.  Just Making Cents is a wonderful blog I frequent to learn about money as an individual and as a parent.  They believe that financial education is a necessity and that schools aren’t equipping children with that knowledge. Their blog is a space to learn, to practice, and to get a better idea of how to approach money matters–either with your kids, if you’re a parent, or just for yourself.

I would also like to thank Joanna from dippingintotheheart.com for a nomination as well.  Dipping Into the Heart is a spiritual blog that I frequent, and is dedicated to help the reader on their spiritual journey.  Joanna encourages the reader in her posts to help them find themselves in God, and to discover what God feels for the reader.

Part of this award is answering 11 questions posed to me by Just Making Cents.

Here it goes:

1.  What is your real-life super power?

I am very self-driven and a very hard worker.  Given any situation I will be the one with my sleeves rolled up and “in it.”

2.  How do you use this power?

To be efficient for me and to help others

3.  What do you dream about?

My kids growing old and being happy

4.  What makes you wince?

I will physically wince when I hear someone take the Lord’s name in vain.  I can’t hear “JC” or “GD” without wincing.  Or the word “Retard.”  That one makes me wince, too.

5.  If you can go back and change one thing about your life, what would it be and why?

I feel that kids are asked at too young of an age to choose what they want to do for the rest of their lives.  At 17, I chose Psychology.  I wanted to help the world.  At 27 I wanted to get married, buy a house and start a family.  Which wasn’t too easy earning so little (even after I got my Master’s Degree).  I had to change from my field of study to sales (a job I was completely awful at) and doubled my salary overnight.  I wish I could have figured out a way to earn money and still help others.

6.  How were you raised to think about money

Oh, the beloved cookie memory.  When I was 7 or 8, my dad and I were at the grocery store where he was teaching me about “Quantity vs. Quality.”  In his one hand sat the more expensive, yummy, brand name chocolate chip cookies with 18 in a colorful package.  In his other hand sat the store brand, clear cellophane sandwich cookies that had 36 in the pack.

“And look!  There are chocolate and vanilla sandwich cookies in this pack, so you get OPTIONS!”

So we were a quantity, not quality, family.  Especially when it came to cookies.

And to never get into credit card debt you can’t get yourself right out of.

7.  If you’re a parent, how do you teach your children about money?

Well, I read Just Making Cents, of course.

And of course, I shared the cookie story,

And I recently read the book “The Opposite of Spoiled” by Rob Lieber.  My kids do chores, they earn an allowance – but I still felt like I was missing something in my message.  This book helped me to figure out the message around money I wanted to teach my kids.

 

 

8. If you make more than enough to cover your basic needs, travel, and some savings, has more money beyond basic needs/travel/some savings made you more happy?

Not there yet.  Able to cover the basics and I am very grateful for that.

9.  Do you give to charity or research? Why or why not?

Yes.  If a friend is asking me to contribute to their cause – be it cancer, heart disease, suicide prevention – then I will donate on their behalf to stand with them, support them in something they feel very strongly about.

10.  You have a magic wand. If you could zap into existence one thing to make your finances better, what would it be?

Is more money too obvious?  Cliche?  I gotta go with it.  More money

11.  With this magic wand, what else would you create to make your life better?

For my family to stay safe, happy, healthy and whole.  For me to raise my kids with a positive outlook.  For them to be able to say something like:

 

Thank you both, again, for the nomination!