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Family

Inexpensive Ways To Connect With Your Kids During The Holidays

If you are looking for ideas on how to spend more quality time with your family this holiday season, there is a great article titled “50 Free & Frugal Ideas For Holiday Family Bonding” that I would recommend you read.

The article has an extensive list of ideas of ways to do crafts with your kids and provides links to several websites for further details. There are also links to a variety of websites that can help you get your kids interested in various home improvement projects. Why not be productive while bonding!

December 1, 2010

Family

Do Not Bail Out Your Kids When They Overspend

There are times when it makes sense for parents (who can afford it) to lend money to their adult children to help with post secondary education, a down payment on a home, etc. However, this isn’t always the best idea and it’s important to really discuss things thoroughly before making a decision.

Every parent wants to be able to help their children, no matter what their age, however, at a certain point it is important for children to become financially independent. If parents continuously bail their kids out when they overspend, they are not helping their children at all. Why? Because their kids need to learn that there are consequences for being irresponsible with their money. Kids will never learn this if Mommy and Daddy always foot the bill when they make a mistake.

November 19, 2010

Family

Teach Your Kids To Type For Free

While visiting a friend who has young children, she shared with me a great online resource that her kids use to learn how to type. It’s called Dance Mat Typing, and it’s a website that is free to use. It’s based out of the UK and it makes learning to type a lot of fun for kids. The site is very colorful and it features neat animations to make learning amusing.

October 18, 2010

Family

What We Learned About Employee Benefits

I have written before about the importance of employees taking advantage of their work benefits, as the benefits are a big part of an employee’s compensation. Unfortunately, due to misunderstanding the true cost of the health and dental benefits offered at my husband’s work place, we decided not to take advantage of his benefits. We thought that they were too costly and that we wouldn’t make enough use of them to justify the cost.

Unfortunately both my husband and I have had to get some major dental work done recently and after looking into his benefits further, had we decided to sign up for the benefits when he was first eligible, the benefits would have turned out to be really helpful now in paying our dental bills.

October 12, 2010

Family

Take The Plunge And Have Kids If You Want To

Right now my husband and I are what you would call DINKs (Double Income No Kids). So far we have been enjoying the freedom that comes from not having children. It is nice to just be able to spend time with my husband and to be able to sleep in when we want, and to take long road trips and sleep in a tent or in the car along the way. We know that our lifestyle will have to significantly change when we have kids.

Although the DINK lifestyle is fun for a while, I don’t think I would want this forever. There’s something about having kids that makes your life more whole, more meaningful, at least in my opinion.

I think the reason that so many married couples in North America don’t have kids right away is due to the hefty costs of raising a child. Most of us think we have to save money for a few years first. My friend who is expecting for the first time, told me that no one is ever ready to have kids, and that no one can ever afford to have kids, but that you just have to go for it. According to her, you will never feel adequately prepared emotionally or financially to have kids, but if you want them, you have to just take the plunge.

September 30, 2010

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