Financial and Saving Tips for Military Families

Whether you are new to the military life or a veteran, we all have our ways of managing our finances. Sometimes we come across obstacles in the road where we get behind, and we all know it is not fun to be behind as it is hard to get caught up in finances and keeping them maintained.

Each and every soldiers does not get the same pay as it is all based on time in service, rank, whether or not the soldier has one or two bills. There is a lot of factors that plays into figuring out each individual soldier's pay. You can view a copy of the military pay scale by clicking here.

All soldiers get BAH which is called Basic Housing Allowance and each soldier does not get the same BAH rate. It is based on if the soldier is single or married and the zip code of where their duty station is located. You can view the BAH rate table by clicking here. If a soldier lives overseas they get COLA which is called Cost of Living Allowance and those rates vary. Some soldiers in certain states here in the USA get COLA as well, not every one gets that here in the USA. You can view the COLA rate table by clicking here for overseas COLA and clicking here for stateside COLA.

All soldiers get BAS which is called Basic Allowance for Subsistence. Enlisted get $279.88 a month and Officers get $192.74 a month.

Most if not all soldiers elect to get paid twice a month, the 1st and the 15th of each month. Depending on who you bank with, if the 1st or the 15th falls on a weekend you will get paid that Friday. If the 1st falls on a Monday and it is a holiday you will get paid the Friday before that holiday. You can check and view your LES which is called a Leave and Earnings Statement online by clicking here. If there is a problem with your pay, the soldier has to contact their finance office.

Since I know we get paid twice a month, I divide our BAH al amount in half. For example we get $1100 in BAH. That is $550 every two weeks. I use our BAH for rent, water and light. When you live in on post housing, you do not get BAH because that goes towards your rent, light, gas and water for living on post. Some military installations now charge you for overuse in water, light and gas. We currenlty live offpost in a condo. If we pay $800 a month in rent, I know to put aside every two weeks $400 to go towards rent and the rest for water and light or whatever utility I need to pay. In our case we only pay for water and light, no gas as we do not have that service. I have been using this method since my husband and I have been married and it really works for us. Lets say your light bill comes out on the first and is due mid month, well I always pay my light bill when I get it rather than waiting till it is almost due. If I do not go over any amount that I have extra each month, I leave it in the bank just in case we get a high bill. I pay our bills online and I always carry it over to the next dollar. For example if my satellite bill is $56.23, I would give them $57.00 this way the change is carried over. One thing the military has and I love, is allotments. If you do not have an allotment set up for a bill and it is available to you, I suggest you do it. Our car note is allotted so I do not have to worry about it. I see a lot of military families struggle with a bill when they could have allotted it out. What money you do not see you do not spend.

I shop at the commissary faithfully. I get all my savings there. Our base installation has two commissaries and I shop at one the most. I just found out they have Fantastic Fridays. Last Friday was payday for us and that is when I do my shopping, every two weeks when we get paid. Well I always have a list for my groceries so I do not go shopping and throw everything in the grocery cart. I took advantage of some good savings last Friday. They had Betty Crocker potato skillets on sale, two boxes with $1.00 off coupon making them free. I jumped at that opportunity and ended up with two cases of potatoes for free. They had a lot of items on sale with the coupons either making them cheap or free. If you are military, you know to take advantage of those caselot sales and coupons. We are a family of six and we spend on average about $500 a month in groceries which includes cleaning supplies and paper goods. By all means I do get some extra things but I try to stay within budget. If you want to find out if your base installation is running any specials you can click here.

My tips and suggestions on how to manage your finances and save anyone can use, you do not have to be military. Just knowing that military are on a fixed income, the way I have been handling our finances has worked for us for the last nine years.

One thing that we do not deal with and that is writing checks. That helps a lot. I either use a credit card, check card or cash, I prefer cash or money order as my method of payment. This way I know I am not exceeding our income. If one person chooses to write checks by all means that is their preference but I have seen too many younger people get in debt with writing checks. Know what your total income after taxes that is coming into your home either once a month or twice a month. I use Paycheck City to figure out how much taxes are taken out of my husband's base pay. Sit down and write down what bills need to be paid. If is says due on the 1st, pay it on the 15th before it is due this way that is one bill you do not have to worry about.

Monitor your utility usage. Living offpost is difficult but we manage to monitor our light and water. If no one is in a room, the light is off. I try to wash clothes at night or the weekends if at all possible.

Everyone has their own methods of saving and handling their finances, but being military, I find the way I handle works and could work for someone else who could be struggling, especially those new to the military life or a college student living on their own.