Master your money. Get organized. Take back your time.
There are some things you buy over and over again. And every time you buy them, you’re handing their manufacturer and your retailer a nice profit.
So it stands to reason that you can save a nice wad of cash by skipping the middle men and making those items yourself!
Think you can’t do it? These 8 everyday items are not only inexpensive but easy to make right at home! [Read more…]
In its Annual Survey of Colleges 2015-2016, The College Board estimated that a student living out-of-state at a public four-year college can expect to pay almost $15,000 for room, board, and other expenses, on top of an average $24,000 in tuition.
After adjusting for inflation, that’s an astounding 40 percent increase over the past 10 years, which leaves many parents to wonder — will I have saved enough to give my children the best education possible by the time they’re ready to go to college? [Read more…]
On the day of our big move, the very first thing I did was throw up.
Nine weeks pregnant and overcome with morning sickness, I had the keys to our new place and a lease on the old one that told me it was time to get out. On that day, my husband handed me my Saltines and a barf bag, eased me into the car, drove us to our new home, and deposited me on the floor (since the furniture hadn’t yet arrived) of our new home with my trusty crackers.
Undertaking a move is a chore for anyone, but doing it while you’re pregnant is a special kind of challenge. It’s possible however to survive and even conquer the process by following a few rules . . .
Some days the life of a busy mom looks like this:
You cross the finish line of another non-stop day, and you are exhausted . . . but you honestly don’t know what you have to show for all your spent hours. Projects are piling up at work, the house and kids look like they need to be hosed down, and you can’t remember the last time you had uninterrupted quality time with your spouse.
And tomorrow it begins again.
Getting it all done while making the most of your time is possible. Try adopting these 15 practices for maximizing your productivity: [Read more…]
Note: This post contains affiliate links. Read my policy here.
If you’re like most new parents, your first two emotions after a positive pregnancy test are excitement and paralyzing fear. You’re having a baby . . . but you have no idea what you’re doing! You’ve got just nine months to figure out not only how to keep your kid alive but also what gear you need to make that happen.
Before you find yourself in a frenzy buying everything at Babies“R”Us, check out these 7 tips for saving big bucks on your baby. [Read more…]
Before our son was born, my husband and I took a hard look at our schedules.
We thrived as a couple holding down full-time jobs, but we wanted to carve out more time together as a family of three. We wanted to find more balance than our busy schedules allowed while still enjoying the personal and financial benefits of employment in our chosen fields.
After weighing our options, my husband and I made the decision for me to seek a part-time schedule.
According to an article on WorkOptions.com, the quickest (and arguably the most reliable) way to get that coveted part-time, professional schedule is to get that arrangement in your current place of employment. Making that dream a reality means convincing your company of the merits of your part-time plan.
Here are some tips for navigating that corporate road: [Read more…]
“Have you started saving for college?” a co-worker whispered apprehensively when I announced my first pregnancy at the office. The question wasn’t unreasonable — even though my kid will be in the graduating class of 2037 . . .
Do you wonder how you’ll ever foot the bill? Try this concept on for size:
Don’t pay for college.
Grab your smelling salts. You can absolutely do it.
My parents were educated beyond college and wholeheartedly believe in the importance of higher education. Still, while they offered to pay for room and board for their five kids, they gave us the responsibility of handling the rest of the bill.
At the end of the day, we all managed to enter excellent college and graduate programs, land great jobs and do it all with little or no debt.
Here’s how you can help your kids do the same . . .
Read the rest of my recently-published blog post on The Penny Hoarder, the world’s largest personal finance blog with more than 8 million readers!
The mommy blogs are silently judging me.
I feel their condemnation every time I scan through pictures of the cool moms’ color-coordinated lives, perpetually clean children, and hyper-organized homes.
There are some things that are just part of motherhood, according to these blogs, and no one bats an eye to question that. No more! I’m not ashamed to admit that I fail to meet these ten “basic” requirements for life as a mom . . .
Read the rest of my recently-published blog post on Parent Co!
Even if you don’t have a baby, you may want to keep some homemade fruit purées on hand in your freezer. [Read more…]
Note: This post contains affiliate links. Read my policy here.
It’s a fact of life that, when you have a little kid, relatives and friends will shower that kid with toys. It doesn’t matter how much you vow to live a minimalistic toy lifestyle. If you buy not a single toy for your child, you will still find yourself living in a toy store. You’ll have the huge toys, the tiny toys, the toys with a million parts, the fuzzy toys, the teething toys, and — my personal favorite — the noisy toys. If you’re not prepared to flee and let the toys run amok in your house, then you need storage solutions that work for you and for your kids. Here are some of my current favorites. [Read more…]