Farnoosh Torabi's Blog, page 16

#FinCon14, Here I Come!

This week I’m heading to New Orleans for the 3rd annual Financial Bloggers Conference (aka FinCon) and honored to give a keynote presentation on how to build your brand, business and blog with a great book.  I’m so excited to meet all the creative geniuses in the personal finance blogger community. If you’re heading to the conference, check out the schedule here.

I’ll be handing out 100 free copies of When She Makes More, so be sure to attend!

And speaking of my book, I just found out that it has been named a finalist for a Plutus Award for Best Personal Finance Book!!

 

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Mommyhood Musings, Week 10: Time Management Tips

Time management – and completing our ever growing ‘To-Do’ list – is something we all grapple with. No matter if we’re single, married, have kids or not. But since becoming a mom, I’ve learned - very quickly – just how efficient I need to be with my time.  As I type, I am rushing to finish this blog post before my babysitter leaves for the day (I work from home, so that’s a perk). A spare 10 minutes on any day means, WOAH! I *might* be able to squeeze in a shower…but only when my husband or babysitter is home. With an extra 15 minutes I might even be able to blow dry my hair straight. (This doesn’t happen often. I’ve mastered the art of the hair bun since Evan was born.)

Truthfully, I think I’ve taken on more work, assignments and meet-ups than I can reasonably handle this month. I’m also traveling a great deal. So, to accomplish my tasks and make sure I don’t compromise time with my family, I’ve decided to commit to the following to improve upon my time management:

1. Begin working as soon as the babysitter arrives at 8am. This will be challenging. Maybe make that 8:15, since I like to catch up with her and give her the latest regarding Evan…like how the boy slept a straight 7 hours last night! Huzzah!

2. Do the creative stuff first, technical last. Tending to technical tasks like responding to emails, scheduling meetings and calling the IRS (which I did all morning) are easy ways to check things off my list and feel accomplished…but it takes away from the more important, more meaningful assignments that actually yield income.  I have several writing assignments to write and keynote speeches to prepare for this month. Rather than deal with these creative, heavier responsibilities last, I will dedicate myself to them earlier in the day.

3. Break for lunch.  A cool 20 minutes is enough to make myself a quick lunch and kiss my baby a thousand times. And it’s integral to my happiness and health. I’ll have to set an alarm for this, since it’s easy to breeze through lunch if working on an engrossing project.

4. Skype more. I live in Brooklyn and when colleagues or publicists want to meet in person for a meeting in Manhattan, the back and forth travel can easily take a couple hours. While I think the face-to-face is important (as is getting out of the house!) I’ll be suggesting more Skype or phone meetings if I feel it’s appropriate.

5. Ditch Facebook during work hours. It does not help my goal to get more done in less time. I love seeing everyone’s photos, but it’s a distraction that can wait until I’m done with work. Twitter, on the other hand, feels more like a work-related tool and resource. I’ll keep an eye on that feed, but only a few times per day. Maybe I should really start scheduling tweets via Tweet Deck.

6. Pretend I’m in high school. When I was 16, I was obsessed with creating a minute-by-minute To-Do list that not only included study time and activities. I also scheduled my showers, eating and calling people. It was not uncommon for me to write such things as, “3:10 Eat Snack” or “4:05 Begin SAT prep.” I may have been over micro-managing myself, but it was the only way I got through Junior Year. Back then I had more time in the world than I do now…So, back to the micro list I go.

7. Work when baby sleeps. The saying is actually, “Sleep when baby sleeps.” Fortunately, Evan sleeps pretty well during the night so I no longer feel tired during the day. It’s just the two of us in the early evenings before Dad comes home. I ought to squeeze in an extra hour or so of work when Evan goes down.

8. Eat less. I’ve been trying to shed the last of the baby weight. Working out is important, but it takes a LOT of time that I just can’t afford to give up this month. Rather than squeeze in a daily workout which absorbs a lot of my time, I’ll have to be content with just hitting the gym a few times per week for now. Mainly, I’ll need to focus on healthier eating and cutting calories to help with the weight loss. I learned this from Jillian Michaels last year when i met her at the Get Radical conference. After having her baby she literally had no time to workout. This, coming from a physical trainer! Instead, she trimmed the excess calories from her diet and was back in her skinny jeans 4 months later. Sigh. Egg whites and plain, non-fat Greek yogurt, here I come.

Then you'll love my newsletter. Fill out the form below and you'll also get the first chapter of my book, Psych Yourself Rich, for free! You’ll learn the 10 bases you MUST cover to be in control of your money.

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Nick Cannon & Mariah Break-Up: Marriage on the Rocks?

While we shouldn’t speculate, I do wonder how much their massive income disparity influenced the Nick Cannon and Mariah breakup. When she makes more, relationships tend to suffer. Divorce rates are much higher when she brings home the bigger paycheck.

Of course, Nick is no pauper. He is worth a reported $20 million. Mariah, a whopping half billion dollars.

Here’s my interview with the America’s Got Talent host during happier times. I ask him about the income gap and how it impacts him. Listen to his very honest answer.

Then you'll love my newsletter. Fill out the form below and you'll also get the first chapter of my book, Psych Yourself Rich, for free! You’ll learn the 10 bases you MUST cover to be in control of your money.

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When She Makes More: Nick Cannon & Mariah Carey Marriage on the Rocks?

When she makes more, relationships tend to suffer. Divorce rates are much higher when she brings home the bigger paycheck. While we shouldn’t speculate, I do wonder how much their massive income disparity weighed on Nick Cannon and Mariah Carey’s marriage.

Of course, Nick is no pauper. He is worth a reported $20 million. Mariah, a whopping half billion dollars.

Here’s my interview with the America’s Got Talent host during happier times. I ask him about the income gap and how it impacts him. Listen to his very honest answer.

Then you'll love my newsletter. Fill out the form below and you'll also get the first chapter of my book, Psych Yourself Rich, for free! You’ll learn the 10 bases you MUST cover to be in control of your money.

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What to Keep In Your Wallet?

What’s in your wallet? The cool team at GoBankingRates.com recently asked me to disclose what’s in my wallet and the one item I never leave home without.

Check out my answers below. What about you?

What’s always in your wallet (aside from your I.D.), and why can’t you leave home without it? My and my son’s health insurance card. In case of an emergency, we don’t have to worry about the financial toll of getting immediate medical attention. Sure, we can get reimbursed later…but who has the time or patience for dealing with medical billing departments? I also try to keep some cash with me at all times. Being out and about in NYC, you’re bound to tip someone at some point during your day!  

What would you never carry in your wallet and why? My social security card. Should my wallet get in the wrong hands, my social security number would allow a thief to unlock – and open – endless financial accounts. The damage would be epic.

And just for kicks, here are the contents of my purse. The photograph was taken while I was still pregnant, hence the pink pair of maternity pants.




Rubber band for my hair
Trident gum
Too many keys
My purple wallet - my favorite color
A check book – cuz you never know!
The address of the waitress who recognized me and said she’s been meaning to read You’re So Money . So, I sent it to her…She gave us free dessert in exchange!
Spare contact lenses
A stack of business cards collected this past month
Hand sanitizer
Kind Bar – Dark Choc and Sea Salt. The best!
A pair of pink maternity pants I need to get hemmed
Far too many tubes of lipstick…







Then you'll love my newsletter. Fill out the form below and you'll also get the first chapter of my book, Psych Yourself Rich, for free! You’ll learn the 10 bases you MUST cover to be in control of your money.

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Mommyhood Musings, Week 9: Paying it Forward

Babies bring out the best in us. In particular, they make us adults quite the generous bunch. We just received half a dozen boxes filled with baby and toddler-sized hand-me-downs from a good friend. I’ll be forwarding much of it to another friend with a son born around the same time as Evan.

 

Another friend’s wonderful parents – out of the blue – sent our boy a lovely beach towel hoodie, and relatives continue to shower us with gift cards. This weekend we’re headed to Pennsylvania for a big family visit. My sister-in-law has already informed us that she will be stealing Evan Saturday afternoon and wants us to get some down time.

I spend a good chunk of my days writing thank you notes. We feel truly blessed.

In return, Tim and I are trying to pay it forward. We’ve donated hundreds of diapers to a local church. We gave one breast-feeding mom friend a huge tote bag filled with pump-friendly bottles, nursing tops and other related items. We also just donated money to a friend’s charity Today is a Good Day, which provides personal support to families of premature babies during their time in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). We just can’t believe this little baby is ours…and feel like we owe it to the universe for blessing us with his presence. 

And that’s the latest from Mommyhood. Pure gratitude.

In other news: Evan is almost 10 weeks. He has an appointment tomorrow to receive some early vaccinations. Wish him (and me) luck!

 

 

Then you'll love my newsletter. Fill out the form below and you'll also get the first chapter of my book, Psych Yourself Rich, for free! You’ll learn the 10 bases you MUST cover to be in control of your money.

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Money Musings from Mommyhood, Week 8: Cheap Baby Essentials Under $30

There’s an awful lot of learning through trial and error when you’re a new parent. As I mentioned in last week’s edition of Money Musings, we tested several different bottles before settling on the Dr. Brown variety.

Newborns don’t need a whole lot of stuff  - mainly just food, diaper changes, hugs and feeling secure. But I’ve discovered some relatively inexpensive items that can end up being total lifesavers during the baby’s (and parent’s) first year. Here are some small purchases we’ve made thus far that have provided much peace for the whole family:

Wipe Warmer, $27

Evan always cried when we changed his diaper for the first couple of weeks. We realized it may have had something to do with the coldness of the wipes hitting his skin. Upon the recommendation of another parent we purchased a wipe warmer. I was hesitant to buy it, feeling like I was falling prey to the marketers of the billion dollar baby gadgetry empire…but all I can say is that our baby no longer wails when his diaper gets changed. When that warm wipe hits his tush he is one happy kid.

Book: Twelve Hours’ Sleep By Weeks by Suzy Giordano, $13

Okay, so we realize the title of this book is a bit ambitious, but it preaches some really important habits that are quite attainable at an early stage when it comes to not just sleep, but also feedings and naps. We love its brevity, no-nonsense advice. The book was originally recommended to us by another mom in our building. I ordered it and added it to the other 6 baby sleep books collecting dust by my bedside. This one is – by far – the easiest to follow.

WubbaNub Pacifier, $13

If you choose to give your baby a pacifier, I strongly recommend the Wubbanub line of animal pacifiers that are easy to grab. We were given our first as a gift and I have since purchased two more. Helps when stretching feedings and soothing baby before he falls asleep. Plus, there so cute!

I mean, look at him!

Aquaphor Baby Healing Ointment, $14

We apply this goop after each diaper change to avoid rashes, as well as on Evan’s cradle cap and even on his occasional face scratch marks (caused by his constantly growing nails). This stuff works like magic. It’s fragrance free. No need for any other type of ointment.

Multi-Use Pads, $4

A friend sent me some multi-use pads when Evan was born and I decided to place them over his existing changing pad at home as a protectant. This limits any dirty messes from getting on the sheeted changing pad underneath and leads to fewer washes. It’s also a great for traveling.

What are some inexpensive, baby essentials you recommend? Share with me on Facebook or Twitter. 

 

Then you'll love my newsletter. Fill out the form below and you'll also get the first chapter of my book, Psych Yourself Rich, for free! You’ll learn the 10 bases you MUST cover to be in control of your money.

Money Musings from Mommyhood: Week 7

I’m baaaack! Sorry I’ve been MIA from my blog the past couple months. As many of you know, I’ve embarked on a very new, very exciting role in life: Mom. Evan was born on the first day of summer, June 21, at 6:36 pm. He’s a happy baby who loves bath time and his Sharknado robe.

To all my parent-readers out there, I feel you! I finally feel you! The past seven weeks since bringing Evan home have been filled with so much love (more than I ever thought capable), pure joy and, of course, worry! You’re not a parent if you’re not worrying more than 50% of your day, apparently. I worry about whether he’s getting enough sleep, enough to eat and enough stimulation. As he is fewer than 3 months old and still quite fragile, I also worry about exposing him to too many people too soon. Like, is it okay to take him to the new Nordstrom Rack that opened up the street? (I took a risk and went with him last week. All is fine.)

Becoming a parent has given me a whole new appreciation for the expression, “sharing is caring,” too. So, in the spirit of this blog, I’ve decided to launch a weekly series chronicling my personal financial musings as a new parent. As a disclaimer, these ‘musings’ are just my own personal thoughts, rants, lessons and observations as it relates to money and parenting. As I’m getting a little bit of a late start with this series, here are more than a few money musings from the past seven weeks, beginning with our time in the hospital.

1. Ask and ye shall (probably) receive.  The nurses at our hospital were, for the most part, very helpful, kind and informative. But they can’t read your mind. After the first night of sharing a room with another new mom and her newborn baby who was crying endlessly, I let my nurse know that it was really challenging to get sleep. I felt really bad for mom and baby and didn’t expect anything to come out of my complaint, but  my nurse responded, “Let me see about getting you a room to yourself.” An hour later she came back and said she was able to move me to different double room that was empty.  A real exclusive private room would have cost thousands of dollars out of pocket. But this was still technically covered by insurance. (And you better believe I took all the hospital freebies out of my existing room WITH me to the new room where I got another stash of goodies. New moms: Don’t leave the hospital without at least a week’s supply of diapers, ointment, formula, etc. And if you want more, just ask. Hospitals are stocked to the ceiling with that stuff.)

2. Bring snacks to the hospital.  You’re not allowed to eat anything – except ice chips, maybe- from the minute you check in to the hospital until after your baby is delivered. You will be hungry, to say the least, after your baby is born. But the hospital cafeteria may be closed at that time (as it was in my case) or you may not feel like spending $12 on a green salad or $9 for a yogurt parfait from the hospital. Be prepared and bring snacks like granola bars, cut veggies, etc. from home. And pack some plastic utensils, too. Around 11pm my husband ran out and got me yogurt but the hospital cafeteria was closed and I had no access to utensils.

3. Don’t buy too much of one thing in the beginning. From bottles to diapers to formula (if you’re not breast-feeding) you may be tempted to stock up on stuff to avoid running out in the middle of the night to buy something because you ran out, but you may end up wasting a lot of money. For example, we bought tons of newborn diapers, but Evan outgrew them by the third week and we ended up donating about 200 diapers to the local church. And, fortunately, we already had various free samples of different bottles (thanks to attending the Big City Moms baby shower expo). Once we tested them all, we ended up giving most of them away after realizing Evan had a lot of gas and we needed bottles that were designed to reduced air bubbles. That’s when we finally made the big investment in bottles. We now only use Dr. Brown’s bottles, which reduce air bubble oxidation.

4. Sign up for Amazon Prime. If you haven’t already. Just do it. We order from Amazon practically every few days and saving money on shipping thanks to this membership has already saved us over $100 in the process. We broke even on that membership fee a long time ago! I also just signed up for Amazon Mom, which gets you 20% off a subscription to diaper orders.

5. Join or start a neighborhood family list-serve. We live in a very family-friendly neighborhood in Brooklyn, but didn’t really see the value in that until we became parents, ourselves. Through a work colleague who lives in the neighborhood (and has a newborn son), I learned that parents in the three adjoining neighborhoods share a Yahoo email list and post all sorts of gems – from free baby equipment to pediatrician recommendations. It’s been an invaluable resource, as we enter parenthood and seek ways to limit our expenses – and make other parent friends!

Then you'll love my newsletter. Fill out the form below and you'll also get the first chapter of my book, Psych Yourself Rich, for free! You’ll learn the 10 bases you MUST cover to be in control of your money.

How I Bounced Back From #Failure

Failure is not uncommon, especially when you’re trying to make it out on your own. It’s if and how you pick yourself up during challenging times that defines you. I am no stranger to facing failure. In this podcast discussion with John Lee Dumas, host of Entrepreneur on Fire, I talk about some of my career obstacles, my professional philosophies and how I managed to squash my fears and pursue my passion as an entrepreneur.

Talking #WhenSheMakesMore with Bloomberg & Barbara Corcoran

The media tour for When She Makes More continues. I recently stopped by Bloomberg News to discuss female breadwinners, the gender pay gap and stay at home dads with the one and only Barbara Corcoran.