My interest in personal finance grew from necessity. While I was pregnant with my second child, my husband's job was made redundant. I was already a stay-at-home mum caring for my firstborn, and was in no position to go back to work myself, so our options were limited. One thing struck us sorely: we were not financially prepared for a crisis. Up until this time, we had been living paycheck to paycheck, we had little savings, no budget, and now we were paying the consequences!
Luckily, my husband found work to see us through and eventually got another full time position. But during those dreadful few months, we learnt a lot of lessons about money. From that time on, I have read and researched, scoured the Internet for sensible financial advice, collected a repertoire of ways to save money on basic living expenses, and developed a passion for personal finance. I love this stuff! The freedom that my family has gained simply by getting in control of our finances is life changing. Really. And I want to take you through it. From creating a budget, to saving an emergency fund, cutting down on expenses and liberating yourself from debt, I want to show you what has helped us regain control of our money and give ourselves financial security.
I must admit, sometimes it is slow going. My husband is a gardener and we are classified as 'low income', but I have learnt that our money can stretch further than we imagined. It's funny though, because his previous job paid a lot more, but we were always struggling! If your partner is a professional or if you work to supplement the family income, I see no reason why you can't use these same strategies to put your family in a good financial position.
So read, enjoy, and share your own ideas and experiences.
