Sustainable Family Finances Blog Goals:
1) Record my family income/expenses/savings monthly
2) Meet monthly with hubby to discuss budget
3) Simplify family accounts
4) Track our family’s carbon footprint
5) Share ways to live abundantly within our means
About Me: My name is Darcy. Some call my an idealist, striving for Darcy’s Utopia. Others might say that I’m a 30-something middle-class working mom with two young kids: my five year old son (referred to as BigGuy) and my two year old daughter (referred to as Girly). I also have two more guys in my life, my life partner of 10-plus years (referred to as Hubby) and a big black Lab (referred to as Doggy). We live in the best of the Pacific Northwest, aka Oregon, although we hope to connect with people from across the globe through this blog.
About our Family Finances: We are a dual income family, yet we spend more than ever before. I’ve always been pretty responsible with my money, but “life” can easily distract me from making it a top priority. Due to an almost $2k monthly child care bill, we truly need to balance the budget each month. Otherwise, we are starting in a pretty good place: we are able to pay the mortgage on our “dream home” (a 1904 Victorian), our only other debt is my college and graduate school loans, we have a growing emergency fund, and a modest retirement fund. Financially, our short term goals are to track our family budget better, spend with our values in mind, and increase our emergency fund. Our long term goals are to retire well, save for college, travel as a family, and share the wealth. As a busy working family, our first dilemma is how to streamline our finances and keep our eye on our short and long term financial goals.
My Partner in Inspiration: As mentioned in my very first post, my twin sister Miel, was my inspiration for starting this blog. She has been very successful with the DINKs Finance blog that she has been co-writing and administering for the past four years (and recently sold). She continues to share her life adventure through Vicarious Nomad. She has agreed to be my partner, and share her blog savvy to make this the successful entrepreneurial venture we hope it will become.
Disclaimer #1: I am NOT a financial adviser, and I don’t pretend to be one. You may have more financial expertise than me. If you need professional financial advice, please hire someone. I am simply an individual on a journey to learn how to manage my family’s finances in a sustainable way. I have a Masters in Environment & Community, and the only finance related class I ever took was environmental economics. I’m a savvy researcher, and will do my best to only share reliable sources. Yet, I will repeat, if you need financial advice, hire a professional!
Disclaimer #2: While we try, my family does not in fact live a truly sustainable life . Some of our efforts do include reducing our home’s energy footprint through the Clean Energy Works program (Parts I, II, & III), driving less, biking with kids more, commuting by public transportation, drinking only tap water, limiting ourselves to one can of trash a month, and taking steps to track our carbon footprint. We enjoy gardening (even if with a hapless harvest), have our organic groceries delivered to avoid extra time shopping for the essentials, and we recently started enjoying the indulgence of some extra help with ecomaids.
Disclaimer #3: My family comes first. Work is a close second. There may be times when a sick child or a deadline will take an obvious priority over writing this blog. While I am taking this endeavor seriously, and I don’t want to dissappoint; this blog is really just a creative outlet. It’s a tool to help me reach my dreams…which includes inspiring you.
You: Thank you for sharing a moment on this journey. I hope my story will help you create your own uniquely abundant and sustainable life. Your comments and engagement help boost my creative resources.
Thanks for the journey!
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Sustainable Family Finances
This blog is the story of a family creating an abundant and sustainable life.
The Cadence Group is pleased to offer a new financial planning/personal management book for you to review: Changing the Conversation: Transformational Steps to Financial and Family Well-Being. I believe that this particular title would be a great resource for you and your community.
The link for Changing the Conversation on Amazon is: http://www.amazon.com/Changing-Conversation-Transformational-Financial-Well-Being/dp/0982800908/ref=sr_1_1?s=gateway&ie=UTF8&qid=1285353826&sr=8-1
I’d love to send you a copy of the book for review if you are indeed interested. The author is also available for an interview or guest post.
Thank you for considering the idea.
Best,
Rebecca Brown
rbrown@cadencemarketinggroup.com
Hi
I have a quick question about your site. Would you mind emailing me back @carlymiller687@gmail.com
Thanks,
Carly
Do you have an email address where I can get a hold of you. I’d like to talk more about your Adaptu mention. Thanks!
Jenna
Community Manager
Adaptu
Hello Darcy,
My name is Marc Brown. I am a financial writer as well as a skilled coupon clipper, a Dad, and the frugal gatekeeper of my household. I am trying to build up my portfolio and would love to post as a guest on your site. Frugality, debt, budgeting, personal finance, and managing the household have always come naturally to me and it’s something I really enjoy writing about. I would be glad to come up with something unique and interesting to contribute to your blog or write about any ideas you may have for a guest post.
Should you publish my post, I’ll be happy with a simple attribution with my name and the site I co-author. Let me know what you think and what topics you are looking for that you haven’t already covered or I can just come up with something unique that hasn’t been done yet.
I look forward to hear from you.
Thanks so much!
Marc Brown
marcbrown2050@gmail.com
Good day!
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Thank you
minasol@yourmediaguru.com
Was just wandering around www checking out DIY kitchens for kids and found your site. So exciting, so proud to see you following your heart. S
We would like to extend you an offer to receive free office supplies to write product reviews! Email joeyy@shoplet.com