I’m resolved to keep better books this year. True story. Over the last month or two I’ve spent a fair amount of time playing “catch up” with our finances. I did what I told you not to do, I went months without reconciling the checkbook. Oh yes. The irony in writing a post entitled, Do…
Kids can greatly benefit from practice at fiscal responsibility as well as learning to help out around the house. Should the two be separate or joined? Let’s talk about allowances today. There are some epic questions that one encounters as a parent: Cloth diaper or disposable? Breast milk or formula? Organic or conventional? Allowance, commission,…
Today Janel shares a fun tutorial for hair clips that can serve as Easter basket filler or coordinate with your girl’s Easter dress. We don’t go crazy with gifts at Easter at our house. Typically, I fill Easter baskets with small gifts for each of the girls and hide them somewhere in the house. My…
The end result is financial responsibility. How we get there can differ from those around us. Imagine that you are going on a trip across the continent of North America. You start in San Diego and you zigzag your way across the South. You curve up the Eastern seaboard, you cut back across through the…
Consider having regular money meetings with your spouse. They will help your finances, but they can also help your marriage. Nineteen years ago this month, Fish and I got engaged. The church where we met and married had the requirement that we do four pre-marital counseling sessions, one with each of four different couples. They…
Learn how to make a personalized Memory Game for kids with some inexpensive materials from Life as MOM Contributor Janel. All Photos: Janel Piersma Memory. Oh, how I loved that game! It was by far one of my favorite games to play as a young child. It’s a great game to teach children how to…
Learn how to make homemade playdough and package it up as an inexpensive but FUN gift for kids from Life as MOM Contributor Janel. Photo source: Janel Piersma When I was a kid, my mom always made our playdough. She’d make a HUGE batch of it and then let us do the coloring. We’d each get…
When I was growing up, there was a lemon tree growing in the backyard. It produced hundreds of lemons each year that we made into lemonade and lemon pie. I even ate a few raw. They were Meyer lemons, so they were sweet enough to eat without too much of a pucker. Invariably each winter…
Keep track of Financial Stats and Monthly Costs with these helpful planning pages. Want to live within your means? Let’s get to it. As you know, one of the biggest problems in money management is awareness. How many times have you heard someone say, “Well, I didn’t realize that we’d been spending so much”? In…
Learning how to repair and maintain your car yourself can save you a lot of money! Hubs and I have always been DIY kind of people. I do the cooking and schooling. He handles the handy-man/construction/garden/car stuff. I think I got the better end of the deal! I certainly am not going to change a…