I’m excited to launch the Centsible Life Family CFO interview series on the blog today! This series will share a look behind the scenes at how other families manage their money with useful advice, funny stories, and hopefully we’ll all come out of it a bit more money savvy.
Want to be featured as a Family CFO? Simply click over to the interview form and fill it out. It should only take you about 5-10 minutes. I’d love to feature readers and fellow bloggers alike.
We’re kicking off the Family CFO Series with one of my good friends and fellow bloggers, Jo-Lynne Shane. Jo-Lynne has been blogging for over 8 years (!) at Musings of a Housewife a lifestyle blog that focuses on her favorite things like real food, fashion, beauty, and so much more. I’m fortunate to call her a friend and colleague.
Family CFO Q&A
Q: Do you currently work or stay at home?
Work from home.
Q: Do you have kids? If so, how many and what are their ages?
We have three kids, ages 14, 11 and 8.
Q: Who is in charge of everyday spending in your home?
We share the responsibility.
Q: Who is in charge of the managing bill paying in your home?
My husband.
Q: Who does the majority of the shopping in your home?
ME!
Q: How do you track your finances?
Our bank statements and credit card bills. We try to do as much as we can on cards so we can track.
Q: How do you track your net worth?
Um. How does one track that? LOL.
Q: Do you create a budget?
No. *hangs head in shame*
Q: How often do you check your accounts?
Daily.
Q: How often do you assess you spending and budget?
Pretty much ongoing. We are always keeping an eye on things and making decisions based on the bottom line. I realize this is not ideal. 😉
Q: What’s your biggest challenge when it comes to your finances?
Budgeting. We just don’t do a very good job of it.
Q: What has been your biggest success financially?
We manage to pay off our debt at each year’s end, but I’d like to get better at staying in budget throughout the year so that bonus can be put towards something fun like a vacation.
Q: When you and your spouse disagree about a financial issues how do you come to a compromise?
I usually defer. I’m the spender, and he’s the voice of reason, so it usually comes down to me giving in. 🙂
Q: What is the best advice you have for being a successful CFO of your family?
Be flexible and humble and be wiling to listen to input from the rest of the family.
Notes from Kelly:
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that we all have different systems that work for us to track and manage our money.
Making budgeting work for you:
While Jo-Lynne laments not budgeting properly I’d say they’re doing a pretty good job. By keeping on top of their accounts daily, sharing household spending duties, and making decisions based on the bottom line her family is able to stay out of debt.
However, if they want to budget better using a monthly budget that allows for some flexibility would be ideal. By basing your budget on percentages instead of exact numbers you can be somewhat flexible and still manage to stick to your budget.
Funding ‘fun’
To make sure they don’t miss out on vacation time they could sock away funds each time they are paid into a separate savings account for vacations and fun stuff. This will help ‘trick’ them into thinking they have less money to spend, keep spending habits in check, and allow for the fun to be paid for.
Also, thanks to Jo-Lynne’s response I need to write up a post on how to track your net worth!
What questions or advice do you have for Jo-Lynne?
Many thanks to Jo-Lynne for sharing,
Kelly
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