Now, that post doesn’t come out and say that you should wait until a certain point to have kids — it merely gives things to consider during your pre-children years.

I’m probably going to ruffle some feathers in saying this, but I don’t think you should base your decision on whether to have a child on your finances. You’re welcome to respectfully disagree with me.

As much as many of us would like, we simply cannot “pencil in” having children on our calendars. For some, pregnancies are a total surprise. Or, some of us might decide to try to get pregnant and find ourselves with a positive test result just a few weeks later. For others, that day may never come. Babies might not come when they’re “convenient” for all involved, but I can tell you one thing — babies are born exactly when they need to be.

I’m due with our first baby on December 30 (plus or minus a few weeks, of course). With my due date so close to the new year, it’s possible he’ll be born in 2009. Sure, it would be nice to have an ‘08 baby for tax purposes, but if it doesn’t work out that way, we’ll be fine with that. He’ll likely be born around one of the busiest times of the year at my husband’s work. Oh, well.

And yes, it stinks that we won’t be able to travel to Indiana for Thanksgiving or Christmas this year. But you know what? That’s ok with us! It’s a great reason not to travel. I’m sorry my due date is inconvenient for some, but it works for my baby, Shane and me, and everyone else can just deal with it :).

I’ve even had people tell me, “Oh, I hope he’s not born on Christmas. That would be terrible.” Are you kidding me? Who better to share a birthday with than Jesus?

When we announced that we were expecting, we caught some grief from some family. We were told that we should have waited until we were older, had more money, had more work experience, lived closer to family, etc. etc. It was incredibly upsetting and insulting to hear.

Of course it would be nice if we had no debt right now. Or if we lived less than 8 hours from the grandparents. But we’re fine and we’re going to be fine. It’s not like I would tell my baby, “Oh, sorry son. I’d rather be in a better financial situation than be your mommy.”

If people wait until they’re in the “perfect” situation to have children, those children might never be born. I wasn’t born at an ideal time for my folks, but I’m really glad I was born when I was. God had picked my birthday for a reason. If I was born just a few days or so later, I would have started school a year later, as I was born right near the cutoff date. That would have affected everyone I’d ever meet. I would have started college later, and perhaps wouldn’t have met my husband when I did.

So ask yourself, were you born at the “wrong” time? Do you wish your parents waited until they had more money or lived in a bigger house or had some other situation going on? Maybe you’ve had a particularly hard life, and if that’s the case, I’m sorry. But I’m willing to bet that most people are glad to be alive — no matter their circumstances.

For people who want to have children when it’s most convenient to them, I have to ask, “Have you met a baby before? Because nothing about babies are convenient.” Babies don’t care if you haven’t slept more than two hours in months. They want fed now. They want changed now. They want cuddled now. They don’t care if you have an important meeting at work. They get sick at random, inconvenient times. They have explosive diapers in public when you find yourself without an extra outfit for them. It’s the way of the baby. “Convenience” isn’t part of the deal.

We can’t always know why babies are born when they are. But God knows. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a profit to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5 NKJV).

So who in the world do we think we are, to get in the way of God’s plan?

I’m not saying we shouldn’t try to give our children the best circumstances possible. Yes, we should be good with our finances. We should pay off our debts and increase our savings. We should buy life insurance policies. We should save for retirement. If that means that we need to make sacrifices in other areas (maybe not taking vacations, downgrading our lifestyles, being total tightwads) then that’s what we need to do.

But these financial things shouldn’t be deal-breakers. If you’re in debt but desperately would like to have children, why should that stop you? Perhaps you can turn your focus to building up your savings rather than paying down debt at the present time. You can likely pay down debt later. Can you have kids later? It’s hard to say.

Being a good parent doesn’t necessarily mean being debt-free. It doesn’t necessarily mean having a lot of money in the bank, or a four-bedroom house, or a great career. In fact, I don’t think the ability to be a good parent has anything to do with those things. Wealthy people can be total morons with their children, and broke people can be the best parents a child could ever hope for. It depends on a variety of factors.

Children don’t need fancy clothes, a roomful of toys, or 529 plans. They need attention and love. If you will provide those things, then don’t let some financial planner tell you when you should have kids. It’s not up to them, anyway.

**EVERYBODY PANIC!!**

Deflation (the opposite of inflation) is starting to happen as energy prices are falling and the demand for various consumer products are decreasing. Lately, many of us have been able to put gas in our cars for well under $2 in many cities. Compare that to the $4+ we were paying earlier this year, and you really can feel the difference.

In the short term, folks are getting more for their money at the gas station, grocery store and more. And, many are starting to actually put money in savings and reduce their spending. Frugal living is so hot right now, ya know?

So what’s not to love? People are being more responsible and they’re paying more reasonable prices for things.

Well, economists are here to tell us that lower prices can result in even more layoffs and businesses closing. Businesses might be having a harder time breaking even or making a profit. And, if consumers think that prices are going to keep on dropping, they probably are going to hold off on all “unnecessary” purchases. Why buy a fancy TV now, when it’ll be $300 cheaper next month?

More people out of work means even fewer people spending money, which means more businesses could go under. Bad.

Of course, in the long term, lower profit points could mean that companies need to become more efficient with their finances. Less wasteful spending, less overextending their credit, etc. That would be good.

The New York Times reports that construction on new houses has dropped by about 4.5 percent. All-time low levels, folks.

Two ways to see it: “Good! People aren’t building McMansions they can’t really afford. They aren’t creating expensive houses that the banks will foreclose on in a few years. They’re living within their means and buying existing houses.”

Or: “Construction workers might find themselves out of work. They might lose their own homes and have trouble feeding their families. Fewer construction loans affects contractors, construction workers, banks, the local economy, taxes, and more. A planned subdivision, now sitting vacant, means businesses won’t move to the area, prohibiting further economic growth.”

A tough situation, indeed.

I really do think that things will be fine in the long run. In the short-term, I’m worried about people who are losing their jobs and their houses. But, eventually, I have hope that the economy will correct itself and things will be better than they were before.

How is that going to happen? Haven’t a clue. I just want it FIXED.

I don’t know if the embedded video above will work, so if not, go here and watch from 2:25 through 3:49 (or the whole thing, if ya want).

This whole economy stuff is really making my head spin. Various industries collapsing all over the place, GM wanting help from the government, people losing their jobs and their homes … it just goes on.

I don’t know what should happen, but I want someone to FIX IT now!

We use our checking accounts to pay bills and do our regular shopping. Pretty basic, yeah? We don’t earn much interest from it, but that doesn’t matter since the money isn’t in our checking accounts for long, since hey, bills are due every month, ya know?

There is a small rewards program linked to our accounts, and from time to time we’ll get a gift card to a restaurant or store.

We try to do “zero-based budgeting,” where every dollar has a specific purpose. There’s not really extra money laying around. If it were just hanging out without a task, we’d send it to a specific savings account instead. That way, we won’t be tempted to spend it on something we don’t really need or want.

We do most of our banking with a traditional brick & mortar bank. Our accounts are set up like so:

- Kacie’s checking
- Main checking
- Charity
- Baby savings
- Car savings
- Emergency fund and additional savings

All of these accounts are linked to one another.

My checking account has a debit card specific to the account number, and I use it for groceries, gas, and general household shopping. Keeping it separate from the main checking helps us to track where the money is going. We don’t keep much here — just a few hundred dollars, as that’s all it usually takes per month to shop for our needs and wants.

Shane has the debit card for the “main checking” account. The bills are paid from this account, and we also have paper checks for this one. We pay most of our bills online, but it can be handy to have an actual checkbook. Shane gets paid monthly, so as soon as the money is in that account, it’s sent all over the place.

We take 10 percent and send it to our charity account, $277.33 to our car savings account (that’s enough for one double payment, and we’ll increase that after the new year if we can), some money goes into my checking, some money goes into savings, and a small cushion of $150 to $200 is left here to cover unexpected changes to our budget, and for Shane to use as he pleases.

At the end of the month, our checking accounts are both quite low. We do this intentionally. If we had more money left there, we might be more inclined to spend it on things we don’t really need. That’s why we make a conscious effort to put extra money aside into savings early in the month and as we get little windfalls.

Our charity savings is where we sock a percentage of our income as we receive it. We don’t always give to the same cause, so having it separate from our other funds helps us to remember to donate it, instead of it being absorbed into the day-to-day spending.

The baby savings fund was originally created so we’d have about $1,000 to buy whatever we needed for our son. There’s a few hundred left, and I don’t plan to add to this account unless it looks like we need to. We have pretty much everything we’ll need for those first few weeks (and longer, I hope!) so we can use that money to buy more diapers, nursing things, or whatever else we decide we need. It has been tremendously helpful having this account separate from our main checking or savings accounts.

Our car savings account is probably going to change soon. As I mentioned, right now we’re just sending double payments to our car loan for the time being. Instead of setting it aside, I can just write a check at the beginning of the month and send it on its way, rather than let it earn a wimpy .4 percent interest or whatever. Once we’ve decided to send all extra funds to the car loan, we can then reinstate this separate savings account.

For now, I think we might just put our “insurance savings” there instead. Rather than make monthly payments to our various insurance companies, we pay our policies in full and pay ourselves each month. Right now, the insurance savings is being sent to our emergency savings account, but it’ll be better to keep that separate.

Finally, our emergency fund is earning 4 percent interest and is available to us if we need it. I’ve been putting additional money in that account to take advantage of that interest rate, but it doesn’t have a specific purpose at this point. We might use the extra for things around the house, some new clothes, or maybe we’ll eventually send it to our car loan. Not sure.

We used to have our emergency fund in ING Direct, but I transferred it when this 4 percent interest offer came about, and I’m glad I did. ING Direct is now offering just 2.75 percent interest (I think). Our 4 % offer ends in March, so depending on what the rate is, it might be worth it for me to move it back (or somewhere else, even).

Whew! So that’s how our accounts are set up. How do you do yours?

I don’t know if other fast food chains are running similar promotions, but it might pay off to take a look at your receipt (front and back) just to make sure!

Also, you’ve probably seen this promotion already, but if not, I wanted to highlight it:

You can get a photo book for free (but you do have to pay for shipping) from Shutterfly or Inkubook.

To see the details for the Shutterfly offer, visit Thrifty Florida Mama, but hurry! You need to have the coupon code in your shopping cart by tonight. For the Inkubook, visit Simplemom.

I think these could make wonderful gifts, and I’m planning on working on my “free” books this weekend.

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Karen at Living Well on Less wants to know: Would you buy it if it wasn’t on sale? This is such an insightful post. I used to head straight for the clearance racks and if I found something that was a great deal, I might buy it simply for the sake of a bargain. Wrong way to do it! If we don’t love an item and if it doesn’t have a specific purpose in our wardrobe, it’s a waste of money, no matter how much it costs.

Today I went to Old Navy to get some maternity jeans. I looked in the clearance section first to see if there were any. There weren’t. Next, I grabbed a few regular-priced jeans to try on. I didn’t look at the tag until after finding a great style in my size and trying them on. Ouch, $32.50. Fortunately, I had printed a 30 percent off “friends and family” coupon, making them $22.75. Since I desperately needed some decent jeans to get me through these last few weeks, and since the price was acceptable to me, I bought them.

I did not buy a bright blue T-shirt for $2.80. The color was all wrong for my skin tone. And, I really had no need for another maternity shirt. Even though it was pretty cheap, it would have been a waste of money and closet space.

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Glblguy thinks that tipping is getting a bit out of hand. I’m happy to tip at least 20 percent to restaurant wait staff if the service was good. And I usually give a few dollars extra to my hair stylist. But tipping a coffee barrista? Or ice cream shop employee? You’ve gotta be kidding me.

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Here’s some ideas on funding your 401k while in debt. Generally speaking, it’s a good idea to always contribute enough to get a full company match. That is, of course, assuming you can pay your bills on time and eat decent meals while doing so.

From the Money Life Network:

Beware of this fast food marketing ploy at My Investing Blog. Sneaky fast food people.
Homemade pesto at Remodeling This Life. Looks delicious and easy to make!
Now is a great time to convert your traditional 401k to a roth 401k at Milk Your Money
Nevermind an economic stimulus package — save yourself! at Free From Broke
Home inspections: For existing and new construction homes at Prime Time Money
Is it a good idea to get a 401k loan to pay off debt? at Bible Money Matters

Personally, I don’t care so much about designer items. I’m just not that fancy. Unless a bag has its designer’s logo emblazoned across the front, I probably wouldn’t be able to tell you who made it. And in my humble opinion, some designer goods are kinda ugly.

As far as jewelry goes, I tend to be a minimalist. I’ll wear my wedding band and engagement ring, but that’s it on most days. Sometimes, I’ll put on a pair of earrings — maybe some pearl studs or silver hoops.

If I ever go to a super-formal black tie event, I don’t think I’d have appropriate jewelry to wear. If I was unable to borrow something from a friend, I might consider renting some earrings, perhaps.

For $222 per week (plus insurance!), you could rent 2 cts. worth of diamonds for your ears. These studs retail for $10k. Um. I don’t think I could rent anything that pricey. What if I lost one? That’s pretty expensive to replace.

How ’bout these studs from Tiffany & Co. for $159/week (retail $4,625). Lovely.

These earrings are nice, and are $50/week. About $1,500 retail value.

Then again, you could always go the CZ route and just buy a pair of cheaper earrings. Here’s some pretty drop earrings marked down to $69. Or some CZ studs marked down from $100 to $30.

Wearing real high-end jewelry or some other accessory might be fun once in awhile. I just think I’d be too worried about damaging it or losing it to really enjoy it. Plus, for the cost of renting something, I could just as easily buy a pretty piece of low-end jewelery.

Maybe a good alternative would be to swap accessories and jewelry with your best-dressed friends.

What do you think about the site? Would you use it?

When you’re working that debt snowball or building your emergency fund, you have a pretty clear focus on where your “extra” money is going. It can take awhile to complete those things. A long while.

When we get that inevitable “Oh, let’s just forget about our debt snowball and do something fun” it’s probably a great time to remind ourselves why we’re doing what we’re doing.

Look ahead to the future and picture your debt-free life. By that point, your money will be able to do more things you want it to do. Imagine some things you’d like to do for yourself and your family at that point.

For Karen, she hopes to someday upgrade her furniture and save for a house. When she and her hubby have their debts paid, they’ll have the funds to do those things.

Thinking about the future can help us stay focused on our present tasks. We might be more motivated to keep our spending low and our debt snowball high, knowing that we won’t always have to deal with debt.

It’s important to stay positive about what the future will bring, and not get upset on your current situation. Sure, it’s not as fun to pay money to loans when you’d rather use your money somewhere else. But be patient — the debts will be paid, if you stay the course.

As for my husband and I, we’ve talked a little bit about what we want to do with our “extra” money.

To remind ya, we’re working on paying off our car early, with the hopes of it being paid off by the end of 2009 at the latest.

But, we have other goals we want to work toward as well. We haven’t decided if we’ll do a snowball approach and throw every extra cent at the car loan, or if we’ll just make double payments and put leftover funds toward other things, including increasing our retirement contributions, saving 20% to put down on a house, starting a college savings account for our son, better furniture, and travel.

So many fun things to think about! I just need to remind myself how far we’ve come in the last year, and that makes me realize that hey, we can achieve all of these goals, too.

When I think of it in terms of “Oh my goodness, how can we ever save $25,000 to put toward a house?” I need to remember a few things. Yes, that’s a lot of money for us. Yes, it will take us awhile. BUT. When we’re finally debt-free, we’ll have more money each month that we can put toward savings.

Just think about how much you’re sending toward your debts each month. Add up minimum payments, and for good measure, throw in how much extra you’re usually able to send to debt repayment. Now, think about how far that same amount will go if you just use it for savings (or whatever your goals are). Wow.

That $25k suddenly seems more doable to me.

What about you? What do you want to do once you’re out of debt and have your emergency fund in place? Or, if you’re already past those steps, what are you doing? Any words of wisdom to share?

- $10 gift card to Panera from bank debit card rewards program. Shane and I went out to lunch with it and had a nice meal and only paid a few dollars above the gift card amount.

- $28 price adjustment for Shane’s shoes. It was time to buy him some new shoes and we found a great pair. What’s even better, I discovered that they went on sale and we were able to recoup the difference.

- $20 bonus from ING. I don’t have this yet, but I’ve already used my ING Direct debit card five times this month with purchases of $10 or more, so I’ll get the bonus. I paid my car insurance premium in full, bought another digital converter box from Amazon.com using our $40 government coupon, bought some underthings from VS (see below), and put gas in my car twice. $10 fill-ups each time, heh.

- $3.50/per pack of Pampers at CVS thanks to sales, coupons and ECBs. I picked up two more packs of diapers, since CVS was having a great deal. And, I’ve earned $5 in ECBs to use next time!

- $16 shipped deal from Victoria’s Secret. It came at exactly the right time for me, too. I’ve been needing some more underthings! The package arrived today and it includes a $10 coupon to use in December.

- Free shocks and car wash. During our annual car inspection (required by the state), I discovered that the shocks in our car were going bad. I took it to the car dealership, where they fixed it totally free since the car is still under manufacturer’s warranty. They even washed the car before returning it to me! It really needed it, too.

These little things really add up financially. But what’s more, it makes me realized just how blessed we are.

On Monday, I happened to click over to Kohls.com and found the same pair of shoes. They were on sale! $28 cheaper!

I took my receipt, made a quick stop at the customer service counter, and they sent the price difference to our debit card.

Lesson learned: Hang on to your receipts. Especially if you bought something that wasn’t on sale, consider checking back with the store for the next week or two to see if the price has changed. Some stores will adjust prices up to 30 days after purchase. If the price does go down, get your money back!

You can use Priceprotectr.com to notify you if the price of an item has dropped. I haven’t used this site yet, but I hope I remember to on down the road.

Saving money after I purchase something certainly works for me!