Take These Steps Before Bringing Up Divorce
Divorce from your spouse does not imply that you are a bad person. Divorce is actually becoming much more common. Despite the fact that 90% of marriages occur before the age of 50, between 40% and 50% of couples divorce. Divorce is not an easy topic to broach. It’s best to bring up the idea in a responsible way to ensure the process proceeds smoothly.
1. Balance your checkbook. It is expensive to have a check bounce and it can affect your credit report as well as be embarrassing. If your checkbook is not balanced now, consider closing out your checking account and opening a new one, and balancing it weekly. Enter all checks and balance monthly when your bank statement arrives. Use a pencil and not a pen to enter your totals.
2. When your bills arrive deal with them that evening before you go to bed. Open the bill, recycle the envelopes, write the check, enter in your checkbook, put the stamp on, and mail. If you do not have the money in the bank to mail your bill, put the date the bill is due on the back of the envelope and put it in a set place to remind you to mail it as soon as you can. Put all mail in the same place so you can locate it and remember to mail. It is wiser to deal with the bills as they arrive, that way they won’t be lost and misplaced and you won’t have late fees to pay. If you travel and won’t be in town when the bills are due you don’t have to worry about them being late. If you have to wait to pay your bills, you can take them with you if you are going out of town and all you have to do is mail them. You don’t even need to take your checkbook with you.
3. Keep your checkbook in one place and do not move it or put it back immediately after you have used it. Keep a pen and a pencil with the checkbook. It would also be helpful to have an adding machine or calculator with it, remember we are going to keep the checkbook balanced. How many times have you lost your checkbook only to take hours or days to find it? I know I have. Find a drawer or cubby hole for your checkbook to have a permanent home.
4. If you have children this tip is essential, if you live alone it is still essential. Prepare everything that you need for the next day and put it by the exit door. If you take lunches, put a note on the door telling you not to forget lunches, and meds, and put your to-do list by the door, so you won’t forget meetings or children. Have your children put their books, homework, and projects either by the door or in the car to save time in the morning. This will save you valuable time in the morning and prevent meltdowns.
5. The night before decides what to wear for you, including accessories and handbags, and shoes. If you have children, have the children lay out their clothes the night before. If they are teenagers they can hopefully pick out their own clothes. If they are younger children give them a choice of two outfits to select from. You will be teaching them how to color coordinate their clothes and to select clothes appropriate for the weather. One of the children could be the weather person or they could take turns each month. They could watch the evening weather and tell everyone at dinner what the temperature will be the next day. If you have more than one child assign them the weather for the month. It will be easier to keep up that way.
6. If you live alone have your day book, computer, or large calendar to keep up with your meetings and appointments. If you have children it is a must to have a large calendar that everyone can see. Select a color for each person and a pen that matches that color. Red for Tommy, Pink for Sarah, and Blue for Mommy. Use the appropriate color for everyone and you can always tell at a glance who has what event and on what day. Keep this consistent and it will make everyone’s life easier. For family, trips outline the week in all the family colors. This calendar will be something everyone will love doing.
7. Keep TV to a minimum and you will accomplish so much when you get home from work. You can clean a room each evening, so the weekend will give you more time to do fun things. Make sure you clean more than you mess up and keep up with everything. I know you and the children are tired but it is easier to hang it up, put in the laundry, and do the homework or the housework than it is to try to do it all on the weekends.
8. On one night each week, set aside time to go through your cookbooks, and plan a week’s menus. I operate under the keep it simple sweetie principle. Plan menus that have limited ingredients, which take a short while to cook and are easy to clean up. I know you can stop and get a fast food menu, but let’s face it that gets boring after a while, plus pricy, and not good for your waistline. Home cooking just tastes better. Put your menus down for the week on a piece of paper, plus the page they are on in the cookbook. Now you can see what you need to buy for the week so that your life will be easier. One trip to the grocery store for the week. Keep a grocery list going in the kitchen for items that you run out of.
9. When I cook, I often double or triple the receipt and freeze some in individual packages for later. Even if you have children, individual portions allow each person to select their own dinner. Make sure you include something from the freezer each week to save time and also food that you have frozen is better if used within 2 months. I live alone so I will bake quick bread and soups and freeze them in individual portions.
10. There is never enough time to do everything that needs to be done. Sometimes it is necessary to hire help to make repairs. It is wiser and prevents the leak or the roof or the drip to get worse and costs more in the long run. Do it now. Check on the reliability of the person you are hiring. Referrals, from friends, are very, very helpful.
Do You Need an Austin Divorce Lawyer?
Nobody truly understands how to bring up divorce. However, having a lawyer who can guide you through the legalities of divorce is the best thing you can do. A lawyer will ensure that your divorce is fair and that all legal responsibilities are handled appropriately.