Why do I always blog about periods, products, puberty, women’s health topics and not BUDGETS? Simple, I blog about what I know best and what I hope helps other women who may have questions or concerns about those topics. Also, women’s health interest me a lot more than other health areas. Before working with Tampax and Always, I was a labor and delivery room nurse. Loved the experience of supporting women through their birthing experience and now love supporting women by answering questions and providing information that can help them live a healthier life.
What I know far less about are: automobile repairs, home fix-up projects, income taxes and the dreaded BUDGET! I am mentioning budget now, because I actually, for the first time in my life, did the time-consuming homework to develop a personal budget. To do that, I went through all of my spending in 2010, or as much as I could ascertain since my only records are credit card statements and checking account recordings (which I don’t always do). WHEW! What an experience for someone who has never done that before to manage his or her own money. Then, I calculated percentage of the total for each of the categories I set up, such as restaurants, travel, clothing, gifts, household costs, and gasoline and looked at my earnings.
What I learned is that I have been spending more than I make. I knew that and now consider having the actual proof a positive situation. And why would placing myself in debt in any way be perceived as positive – because I now know the reality and can make changes. I am looking at this like I look at diets and that is: The only way to loose weight is to eat less than you burn. Simple right? Yes. And, while I am no Suzie Orman, I have learned that with budgets, the only way to stay fiscally healthy is to spend less than you earn.
Now that I am armed with information, I can make cuts in my spending in certain areas, modify my lifestyle and continue to monitor my spending. Hope I am not boring anyone with this, but I am amazed, as a write, that I didn’t do this sooner, for me, since I managed budgets daily for work projects.
Back to why budget is a women’s health issue. For many reasons, but overall: 1) There is peace of mind with a balanced budget. 2) A non-balanced budget can be a very stressful weight to bear and we know that stress plays a big role in disease occurrence. All you have to do is Google: stress, income and disease prevention and you will find a myriad of articles and books about that. Then, add women to the mix and you will find more articles and books, this time on cardiovascular health, coping, stress reduction, psychological complications, etc. etc. etc.
For some women, a budget isn’t the answer to their struggle to pay the mortgage or rent, put food on the table and provide health care and education for their children. They need more money to just make life happen. To those women: I wish you the very best with all that you have to manage and hope that easier times are ahead.
For the women, like myself, who need to spend less and better account for their money: Get on it and think before you compulsively buy (tough love here). I believe in your ability to be more sensible in your purchasing choices and to stop buying what you don’t need (now I offer: support, confidence and love).
How can I help you cut expenses? For those of you who buy menstrual protection products, visit the beinggirl.com website for product samples and coupons. From there, you can link to the Tampax.com or Always.com websites for more opportunities to get samples and coupons.
For everyone: Hope that you stay fiscally and physically healthy and that your stresses are minimal.
http://www.beinggirl.com/en_US/home.jsp?utm_source=247momsblogspot&utm_medium=NurseElaine&utm_content=link20110306&utm_campaign=comm_mgr
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