Take Care of Your Money & Look Good Doing it.

Valentine’s Day for $50 or Less

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Love is in the air! And if you’re anything like me, you like to keep love in the air as often as possible! Love shouldn’t only be celebrated today, it should be celebrated EVERYDAY! We were created by God who loves us unconditionally, so much so that He sacrificed His only begotten Son Jesus Christ, that we could have life and have it more abundantly! Hallelujah! (***Insert Church Shout here!***) It is my honor and my joy to serve Him and be educated by Him! (You like how I did that there right? Love, Serve, Educate? I digress. lol) 

This Valentine’s Day I was asked, “How can I spoil the one that I love on a budget?” It was a great question that sparked a great idea. Valentine’s Day for $50 or Less! Disclaimer: I spent more than $50 over the weekend, after a weekend mini-getaway to Florida. I have a full-time job, a part-time job, a nonprofit organization, as well as this business. Sis needed a break and a breather. I am Sis and Sis is me. But this budget is something I used faithfully each Valentine’s Day during the first 5 years of my marriage and I’ve currently been married for 7 years. 

So, how are we breaking down the $50? We are going to basically split the costs between dinner and a gift. For me, there is no meal more romantic than a steak dinner. I don’t know why, but it is always one of the highest priced items on a menu. I will let you know right now, that if you substitute chicken with steak for your Valentine’s dinner, you have essentially cut your costs in half. So, our first $25 is for our food. You want to find two steaks for no more than $20. The cuts of meat are your choice, but your hard limit is $20. Not $20.01 or $20.05. Next, our sides are going to be mashed potatoes and broccoli. We’re on a budget so they are not fresh, but it’s the thought that counts. An off brand sleeve of instant mashed potatoes and frozen broccoli cuts should be more than $2.50 together. I can get them $1 a piece at Walmart, but I understand some stores may be different, and the US is currently going through a period of inflation. The last $2.50 is going to be spent on candles. Even the cheapest candles will make your dinner seem more intimate and romantic so we don’t want to forget these.

Our next $15 will be spent on a gift. You know your partner the best, so you know what they would like, but you also have to be affordable. My recommendation when selecting a gift is to be mindful of their love language. (The 5 Love Languages is a book by Gary Chapman. The 5 Love Languages include Quality Time, Physical Touch, Acts of Service, Words of Affirmation, and Gifts.) Five unisex gifts based on love languages could be a movie you know your partner would enjoy that you could watch together (Quality Time), Massage Oil (Physical Touch), a voucher for a car wash (Acts of Service), a thoughtful card deeply describing what they mean to you (Words of Affirmation), or a cheap piece of jewelry that they should not wear for a long period of time (Gifts). You can also go with the basic teddy bear, chocolate, and flowers too if you want, nothing wrong with the classic.

Your last $10 is for assistance with taxes as well as additional items that you may need for dinner. If you know me, you know I’m always going to include money in my budget for a contingency plan. I don’t want you to have to put anything back at the grocery counter because you did not have enough money. Additional items for dinner could include seasonings, sauce, cooking utensils, and candle holders. I know I didn’t account for wine, but you should be drunk in love like Beyonce anyway. 

Lastly, what is Valentine’s day without entertainment? If you have any funds left, I recommend that you buy a deck of regular playing cards, nothing fancy. You should be able to purchase them for less than $2 and you can actually get them for $1 at the dollar store. After dinner, let your partner know that you would like to play an affectionate game with them. Take out the Joker cards then shuffle the cards and lay them down in a stack with the face of the cards facing down. You and your partner will take turns picking up a card and following these directions: 

If one of you picks up a heart (♥), you will tell the other person a reason why you love them. 

If one of you picks up a diamond (♦), you will tell the other person about a time they made you laugh.

If one of you picks up a club (♣), you will massage the other person’s hand for 30 seconds.

If one of you picks up a spade (♠), you will massage the other person’s shoulders for 30 seconds.

The game ends when one of you picks up the Ace of Spades; it means time for extracurricular activities. 

Enjoy yourself this Valentine’s Day, but more importantly enjoy your partner!

Happy Black History Month!

It’s February already! Can you believe it? We have completed one month of 2022 and we officially have 11 more to go. And what’s any February without the mention of Black History Month on every social media site, commercial, and blog post? I want to properly and publicly acknowledge before moving forward that Black History is not only American history but it’s also World History. The oldest human remains are from where again? Oh, Africa, that’s right, not too far from the equator where the sun blesses God’s creations with all the melanin their hands and hearts can hold. So although Black History Month is acknowledged by the masses during the shortest month of the year, it is celebrated here 24/7/365, 366 during leap years.

Off my soapbox now and back to our regularly scheduled program. So what does Black History Month mean to me specifically as a Black Female Owned Business? Last week I shared on my social media stories that according to an economist at UCSC and a survey by Guidant Financial and SBTA respectively, there are 38% more black business owners in the United States today than February 2020 and as of December 2020, 46% of black small business owners are women. I am extremely proud to be a part of the growing population of black owned businesses and more specifically black female owned businesses. Personally, for me, being a black female business owner means continuing the legacy of my late grandfathers. 

My paternal grandfather, Hosie Joshua, was born and raised on the remnants of a plantation in Mississippi in the late 1920s and only matriculated through the 6th grade. His tenacity and diligence pushed him to found his own cleaning company in the 1980s. His company supported his wife and 3 children and allowed him to own properties in California and Georgia in his lifetime. My maternal grandfather, Freddie Carter, was a Navy veteran in the Korean War at a time when black men were only allowed to serve in the kitchen of the ships. His perseverance and intuitiveness assisted him in starting his own wig company in the 1950s and supporting his wife and 8 children. Starting and running a nonprofit organization and a limited liability company have not been easy tasks for me, but reflecting on my grandfathers and what they endured without the education, access, or resources that have been afforded to me as an entrepreneur in 2022 keeps me motivated. 

So, what about my grandmothers and the influence of black female owned businesses? Although my grandmothers served as tireless business partners to my grandfather’s businesses, they were rarely viewed as vice presidents or chief operating officers by clients but rather avid supporters and silent assistants. I grew up watching my grandmothers receiving money for their unmatched cosmetology and cooking skills but of course not under a corporate umbrella or above the table. So I knew as black women we had the talents and skills to be profitable, I just didn’t know how we were supposed to capitalize off of them within my family. Outside of the family thankfully, just right across the street, was my childcare provider and Pre-K teacher whom we affectionately called Mama Bertha. Mama Bertha ran her own successful childcare company for over 20 years from the den/remade garage in her home and this was not just a room where kids took naps. She had a curriculum that included bible study (I knew all of the books of the bible at 4), Spanish (I’m still not as good at it as I want to be), and dance (I did tap and ballet, might I add). I didn’t have the opportunity to ask her about the inner workings of her business before she passed away, but the evidence of the business acumen she had is proven in all of the college graduates whose formative education began right in her childcare center including six people including myself from my own family.

If I can make any suggestions or encourage you in any way as it relates to Black History, I would recommend these things:

1. Buy Black. What better way to support black owned businesses than to sow into them?

2. Learn a local Black History fact and share it with someone you know. Black History is much more than Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Harriet Tubman.

3. Have a conversation with a seasoned black person (70+) and ask them about their upbringing and experiences. We have to preserve history in order to share it and not repeat it. 

“In recognizing the humanity of our fellow beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute.” - Thurgood Marshall

How Are Your Financial Resolutions Going?

The beginning of the year always gets everyone so excited. Excited to read the entire bible, excited to lose weight, excited to make new friends, excited to travel more, and of course, the most common excitement comes from the opportunity to improve your finances. Paying down debt, increasing your savings accounts, and balancing your budget are all different financial New Year resolutions that many people have set this year, last year, and probably for all the years to come. So, as we wrap the last hours of the month of January, this question lingers, how are your financial resolutions going? 

According to Discover Happy Habits, after just 1 month, only 64% of people are still successful in keeping it. So if the entire US population made a New Year's resolution, by today, 151,570,000 people have quit. If the entire world made a New Year’s resolution 3,634,000,000 people have bowed out gracefully as of 12:01 am. On the upside, if the entire US population made a New Year’s resolution, by today, 210,880,000 people are still eating healthy, going to the gym, and drinking water. If the entire world made a New Year’s resolution, 5,056,000,000 people would be keeping their therapy appointments, journaling every day, and keeping in constant contact with their family members. 

So which end of the spectrum are you on when it comes to your finances? Of course, if you’ve stopped, I’m going to tell you to pick your good habits back up and if you are still going strong, I’m going to tell you to keep up the good work. All resolutions will be difficult to implement without consistency and discipline, and it is a daily choice to keep the commitment you made to yourself. A willing mindset (not positive, or negative, but willing) is the key to sticking all of your New Year’s resolutions including the financial ones. 

This year, my financial New Year’s resolutions are to increase my quarterly dividends to double digits, save at least one of my husband’s biweekly paychecks in a month, and pay off our Toyota. In one month, I am not ashamed to say I have not yet made a sizeable contribution to my Robinhood account yet but I did reinvest some dividends, my savings goal was $400 short, and I did not make a double payment on our vehicle. Why am I not sad, disappointed, or ready to give up? I’ve made progress! Progress is not perfection and that’s what makes it so great! I have made small steps to get closer to these overall goals and those 12 inches (it’s 12 inches in a foot, stay with me here, foot, steps, get it, great) in forward progression are still better than none any day.

So if your financial goals include increasing corporate revenue, retiring early, or investing in real estate keep taking steps. Even if you take a break (which is completely understandable), clock back in and get back to work. Financial goals are important for setting up your future and even the future of your family and those in your sphere of influence. All of these people are waiting on you to become an even better version of yourself and teach them how to become financial gurus too (yes this message is for me too!) Improvement of individual financial literacy is the foundation of the economic development of communities.

Final thought: Think of each dollar you save like an ab crunch. Ab crunches are common and easy to form like just four quarters, ten dimes, twenty nickels, or one hundred pennies. One ab crunch won’t get you an immediate six pack but you can guarantee every six pack started with an ab crunch. One dollar won’t magically turn into one million dollars but each dollar you save or invest gets you that much closer to seven digits. So pick those weights up and build those financial muscles, we’ve got 11 more months to go!

Check in with me on social media and let me know how your financial resolutions are going! Let’s crush these goals together!