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Volume 35, February 2015

Military Save$ Week

February 23rd-28th

SOLDIER & FAMILY TOOLKIT 1/34 ARMORED BRIGADE COMBAT TEAM

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IN THIS ISSUE

From the Editor: Thanks for reading our Soldier Family Toolkit. The intent of this toolkit is to provide you

with available events, deals, resources, and important information.

Military Saves Week is this month. January can be overwhelming and February is no too late to start setting some financial goals for 2015. If you will be getting a tax refund, it

would be a good way to jump start your financial goals. Perhaps, this will be the year to stop procrastinating and get taxes done early. The motto of MilitarySaves.org is to

“Start Small. Think Big.” These are great word to start off the year with.

Thanks for reading.

3 BEYOND THE YELLOW RIBBON EVENTS & DEALS

4 PERSONAL FINANCIAL

COUNSELOR FLYER

5 MILITARY ONE-SOURCE TAX FLIER

6 MILITARY SAVES WEEK

8 MILITARY ONE-SOURCE ARTICLE

10 HEALTHY MONEY HABITS

11 RESOURCE LINKS

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Check out the Beyond the

Yellow Ribbon website and

sign up for exclusive email

updates on monthly local

Beyond the Yellow Ribbon

events and deals.

HOME FRONT EVENTS & DEALS

www.BeyondTheYellowRibbon.org

Spirit Mountain Season Passes Enjoy a season of skiing and snowboarding! Spirit Mountain

in Duluth is offering discounts on season passes to Service-

members and veterans. There are also other season pass op-

tions for families and college students.

More Info: Website

Bowling with Veterans When: Every Tuesday, 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Where: Midway Pro Bowl, St. Paul

About: Get out and join other veterans in a weekly bowling

group - every Tuesday at the Midway Pro Bowl.

More Info: Flyer

Twin Cities Veterans Club Meetup Group All wartime and peacetime veterans are invited to join the

Twin Cities Veterans Club Meetup group. Meet with other

veterans and enjoy wellness and recreational groups, peer to

peer support groups, sporting event outings, movies, BBQs

and much more.

More Info: Flyer

Free Drop-In Legal Clinic for Veterans When: Feb. 3, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Where: VA Medical Center, Minneapolis

About: Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans (MACV)

invites you to participate in a free drop-in legal clinic for vet-

erans.

More Info: Flyer

Youth Archery League When: Feb. 7 to March 28, 2015

Where: Chilakoot Bowhunters Range, Somerset, WI

About: Chilakoot Bowhunters Range, located near Somerset,

Wisconsin, is sponsoring a beginners to advanced youth arch-

ery league. Safety and proper use and handling of equipment

will be stressed.

More Info: Flyer

An Evening with Taya Kyle When: Feb. 8, 7 p.m.

Where: Beth El Synagogue, St. Louis Park

About: Beth El Synagogue's Heroes Among Us Series proudly pre-

sents An Evening with Taya Kyle and special guest Jim DeFelice.

Taya's late husband was American Sniper, Chris Kyle. A riveting and

inspiring speaker, Taya regularly speaks to audiences across the

country about the challenges facing verterans, first responders and

their families.

More Info: Flyer

Drop-In Legal Clinic for Veterans When: Feb. 10, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Where: Anoka County Government Center

About: Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans (MACV) invites

you to participate in a free drop-in legal clinic for veterans.

More Info: Flyer

Career Fair - Minnesota Correctional Facility When: Feb. 11, 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Where: Minnesota Correctional Facility, Lino Lakes. The event will

be held in Visiting.

About: Explore exciting careers with the Minesota Department of

Corrections. Staff and recruiters will be onsite talking with job seek-

ers about the many careers in corrections.

More Info: Flyer

Hiring Our Heroes - Hiring Fair and Minnesota Wild Military

Salute Night When: Feb. 12, 2015. Employment workshop 9:30 a.m. to

11a.m. Hiring fair 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Where: Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul

About: Hiring Our Heroes, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation

is hosting a Military Hiring Fair and Minnesota Wild Salute Night.

The first two hundred pre-registered attendees are eligible to receive

up to two free tickets to attend that evening's game between the Min-

nesota Wild and the Florida Panthers.

More Info: Flyer Website

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MILITARYONE-SOURCE ARTICLE

Start Saving

with Small Steps

It's commonly believed that becoming a good "saver" takes discipline — making solid choices over and over and sticking to a rigid budget. While this may be somewhat true, there's a hack you can use to eliminate the need for some of the discipline — systems. Create systems that work for you. Do the work up front, and make saving automatic. Here's how:

Step 1: Examine your

spending habits.

The first step to putting your systems in place is taking a close look at your spending habits. Determine how much money you have coming in each month. Compare this to how much is going out and note where it's go-ing. Consider how much you spend on the following:

Mortgage or rent

Car loans

Household bills

Groceries

Gas

Insurance premiums

Savings deposits

Entertainment To get a full picture of your fi-nances, get a small notebook. Carry it with you at all times for one month and note all ex-penses. This will give you a great snapshot of your spending and may offer some surprises. Did you realize you were spending $80 a month on lattes? They may no longer seem quite as sat-isfying.

Step 2: Set goals.

There is an old saying that a goal without a plan is a just a dream. You need to solidify your goals in order to put your systems in place. Write them down. Make short-term and long-term goals and work toward them each month. Stay committed. You can even take the Military Saves Saver Pledge to help you stay on track.

Some common short-term goals may include:

Purchasing a car

Saving for a vacation

Purchasing appliances

Building an emergency savings account

Long-term goals could be:

Buying a home

Saving for retirement

Contributing to a college savings plan

Set savings goals for each item you are working toward and prioritize. If you don't know what a realistic amount is or the best order in which to tackle your goals, consult a personal financial manager on your in-stallation or call Military OneSource at 800-342-9647 to reach a financial counselor.

Step 3: Make a plan.

Now it's time to get specific and set up your systems. Take your findings from steps one and two and use them to work saving into your budget. When your expenses are paid how much do you have left? Examine areas you could cut to find more money to save, such as entertainment, eating on the go (those lattes again) or groceries (become a couponing champion or a master of the commissary). Here's what you need to de-cide:

How much will you save?

No matter how small the amount you can commit to, start saving now. A small amount over a longer period can be more valuable than waiting until you are older and saving even larger amounts. Decide upon either a set dollar amount from each check or an annual percentage of your income to squirrel away. You can in-crease these amounts as you receive pay raises, tax refunds or bonuses.

How will you make it happen?

While a coffee can in the backyard may have been your ancestors' method, you have better choices avail-able. Take thinking about savings off your to-do list and make it automatic. By using allotments or a sched-uled bank transfer each month, saving will be automatic without any effort on your part. Decide which goal(s) to work toward first and direct your money to the appropriate accounts — automatically each month. Now that's truly your money working for you.

Military Saves features countless resources and tools on their website to help you create accurate figures. They also offer advice and tips on how to stay focused on your goals and how to make saving a priority. And again, your personal financial managers and Military OneSource financial counselors are there to support you.

It takes time and commitment to achieve your financial goals. You have access to no-cost tools and re-sources that can help you on your way. Follow these steps to start saving and create financial security for you and your family. And reach out for help along the way.

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MILITARYONE-SOURCE ARTICLE

Start Saving

with Small Steps

Step 2: Set goals.

There is an old saying that a goal without a plan is a just a dream. You need to solidify your goals in order to put your systems in place. Write them down. Make short-term and long-term goals and work toward them each month. Stay committed. You can even take the Military Saves Saver Pledge to help you stay on track.

Some common short-term goals may include: purchasing a car, saving for a vacation, purchasing appli-ances, and building an emergency savings account. Long-term goals could be: buying a home, saving for retirement, and contributing to a college savings plan.

Set savings goals for each item you are working toward and prioritize. If you don't know what a realistic amount is or the best order in which to tackle your goals, consult a personal financial manager on your in-stallation or call Military OneSource at 800-342-9647 to reach a financial counselor.

Step 3: Make a plan.

Now it's time to get specific and set up your systems. Take your findings from steps one and two and use them to work saving into your budget. When your expenses are paid how much do you have left? Examine areas you could cut to find more money to save, such as entertainment, eating on the go (those lattes again) or groceries (become a couponing champion or a master of the commissary). Here's what you need to de-cide:

How much will you save?

No matter how small the amount you can commit to, start saving now. A small amount over a longer period can be more valuable than waiting until you are older and saving even larger amounts. Decide upon either a set dollar amount from each check or an annual percentage of your income to squirrel away. You can in-crease these amounts as you receive pay raises, tax refunds or bonuses.

How will you make it happen?

While a coffee can in the backyard may have been your ancestors' method, you have better choices avail-able. Take thinking about savings off your to-do list and make it automatic. By using allotments or a sched-uled bank transfer each month, saving will be automatic without any effort on your part. Decide which goal(s) to work toward first and direct your money to the appropriate accounts — automatically each month. Now that's truly your money working for you.

Military Saves features countless resources and tools on their website to help you create accurate figures. They also offer advice and tips on how to stay focused on your goals and how to make saving a priority. And again, your personal financial managers and Military OneSource financial counselors are there to support you.

It takes time and commitment to achieve your financial goals. You have access to no-cost tools and re-sources that can help you on your way. Follow these steps to start saving and create financial security for you and your family. And reach out for help along the way.

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HEALTHY MONEY HABITS

FALLING OFF THE FINANCIAL BAND WAGON

In mid-November, our finances were squared away. Almost all of our Christmas pre-

sents had been purchased and money had been set aside to take advantage of the after-

Thanksgiving sales. We were set to end the year on a solid financial note and were in

the process of saving for a new car. We weren’t going to be like most people and wake

up in January with the typical financial hangover. I could not have been more wrong.

It started simple. We both decided to take advantage of some Black Friday deals not

budgeted for. That weekend was also our anniversary weekend away. We really like

to eat and ordered way too much food at all of the restaurants we went to- $100. We

also went shopping and remarkably did not buy anything at IKEA, but did manage to

rack up spending at other stores- $300.

The first week of December, we both got sick with influenza and other illnesses for

several weeks. Thankfully, we were too sick to eat out or our take-out bills would have

been huge. Instead, we passed the time with some seemingly innocent online shop-

ping. We had both planned to get each other simple Christmas gifts, but that idea soon

crossed into the triple digits- $270. Then there were the last minute upgrades to gifts

for the kids- $50, and a neighbor with a daughter two years older than ours, decided to

sell 40-60+ Gymboree outfits for 90% off of retail- $250. Once we started feeling bet-

ter, we had the sudden urge to outfit the whole family in new climbing gear. It was a

really good deal getting $600 worth of gear for $300, but who buys climbing shoes for

a one and a half year old?

This was also our first year playing/coaching hockey and soon new gear and fees added

up to $470. Then we had multiple Christmases over multiple days and the expenses

associated with them added up- $320. We also took a $520 road trip for New Year’s

and tried half-heartedly to keep the expenses down. The following week, we decided

to upgrade the lawn furniture in our living room (seriously) to a $400 couch.

I should also mention that while on our New Year’s Trip I misplaced our cash envelope

system for two weeks. So a week into the New Year, I start to plug in the recent ex-

penses into our budget spreadsheet and realized that since we pay many of our little

bills quarterly, those bills were due in January and so were many of our annual premi-

ums. Even worse is the realization that it is going to take until March to return the

money that we so carelessly removed from savings. To speed up the process, we have

been selling things on Craigslist.

The good news is that by then we will have saved enough to pay cash for our next vehi-

cle and to put new windows on our house. These are our first two goals of the year.

The best part is that not once during our holiday financial hangover did we yell at each

other or say a mean thing about finances. We simply acknowledged what had hap-

pened and moved on. We feel so blessed to have healthy kids and a great marriage.

We are on a good path this year and have big plans. We are not going to let a fall off of

the financial wagon derail us.

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RESOURCE LINKS ARMY / NATIONAL GUARD minnesotanationalguard.com armyonesource.com militaryonesource.mil CHILDREN ADAPT: cehd.umn.edu/fsos/adapt operationwearehere.com mnchildcare.org ausa.org/family mdva.state.mn.us/child guardfamilyyouth.org militarykids.org DISCOUNTS beyondtheyellowribbon.org military.com/discounts/category EDUCATION education4military.com gibill.va.gov militaryonesource.mil militarychild.org EMPLOYMENT esgr.org mn.gov/deed FMLA: dol.gov/whd/fmla HEALTH / MENTAL HEALTH tricare.mil militarymentalhealth.org Counseling 24/7: militaryonesource.mil MARRIAGE AND RELATIONSHIPS Marriage Retreats: strongbonds.org militaryonesource.mil PARENTS OF SOLDIERS bluestarmoms.org operationwearehere.com/Parents.html PET CARE dogsondeployment.org netpets.org guardianangelsforsoldierspet.org SPOUSES & SIGNIFICANT OTHERS militarysos.com spousebuzz.com milspouse.com msccn.org nationalmilitaryspousenetwork.org STRESS MANAGEMENT militaryonesource.mil defense.gov/specials/stressawareness

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