If you’re like most people, when you do your taxes once a year you’re genuinely surprised at the numbers staring up at you. You can’t believe how much you spent on various items. Maybe it’s car repair. School supplies. Travel. Eating out. Shoes. Or even groceries. You’re so surprised at how much you spent, compared to how much you earned, that you tell yourself you won’t do that again next year. Then, of course, next year rolls around and you see you’ve repeated the same pattern.

Your Bank Balance

If you’re 12 times more determined than most people to exercise financial control, you go through this exercise once a month, when you look at your bank statement or credit card bill.

Splendor Financial Wellness (which changed its name from Budget Bee Financial Wellness since we recorded this conversation) is a service that sets out to break this pattern of retroactive remorse. Splendor FW turns you into a person who looks forward instead of backward, so, like a business, you know your expenses ahead of time, and you end up making a profit at the end of the month.

The founder and owner of Splendor Financial Wellness is Molly Richard.

Your Kids

If you have small children, you inevitably find yourself buying toys. If you’re trying to exercise some financial discipline and you’re looking at your monthly budget, do you put toys in the “essential” column? Or the “extravagance” column?

The answer to that question is, Not all toys are created equal.

If you go to a big-box store or look online, there are a lot of toys of dubious quality, and with little or no educational or enriching value. That’s the reason Melissa Beese founded her company, Little Pnuts. 

Melissa started Little Pnuts as a toy subscription service. You sign up and Melissa sends you a monthly box of toys curated from around the world that are high quality and, depending on the child’s age, enhance developmental progress in areas like motor skills, focus, and concentration.

Melissa also makes a special Travel Box for 3 - 6 year olds that fits on a plane’s tray table. Little Pnuts also has a physical storefront, on Harrison Avenue in Lakeview and they've expanded to also include their "Party Boutique" division.

There’s an old saying about the two things that are inevitable in life: death and taxes. But they might equally be debt and childhood. Molly and Melissa are both working in fields where there are huge markets, and seemingly unlimited opportunity. And they're both growing businesses that have sprung out of their own experiences and your own passions.

This edition of Out to Lunch was recorded over lunch at Commander's Palace. You can see photos from this show by Jill Lafleur at our website. And if you're looking for more lunchtable conversation about how your kids and your budget can make the world a better place, check out this conversation about Miles for Migrants and the Youth empowerment Project.