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Posted
Mar 25 2009, 04:28 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
People who still have jobs are feeling lots of pressure to work longer and harder -- and also give up flexibility about when and where they work.
A Washington Post story reports that family-friendly arrangements like flex time and telecommuting appear to be losing the gains they had made in the American workplace in recent years.
It says employers see such programs as job-retention perks, and hardly any company needs those right now. For employees, they've provided better life-work balance and increased work productivity. Why would any employer meddle with that?
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Posted
Dec 26 2008, 07:15 AM
by
Karen Datko
Filed under: family, The Simple Dollar, budgeting, tips, children, raising children, child care, work at home, education, frugal, emergency fund
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar.
Kendra writes in:
My husband and I are expecting our first child in February. Currently, we're in great financial shape: We've been saving our money quite diligently over the last few years, bought a house with a large down payment, and have a large emergency fund and several CDs.
Given that and given the desire we both have to home-school our children, I've made the decision with the full support of my husband to quit my job to be a stay-at-home mom.
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Posted
Sep 11 2008, 12:06 PM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Now that the youngest of their four kids is 3 (and the oldest is 10), Nickel at Five Cent Nickel and his wife are rediscovering their social life. They're paying a teenager they know $10 an hour to baby-sit. He thinks that's a bit higher than the going rate where he lives, and he asked his readers for their thoughts. This post is particularly valuable because so many people chimed in.
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Posted
Jul 08 2008, 10:28 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Lisa Spinelli of Greener Pastures is no stranger to a four-day workweek. She's been doing it off and on for 10 years. She says her 10-hour workdays are more than offset by having that extra day on the weekends. In a post called "Are we heading toward a 4-day workweek?" she explores how a compressed work schedule is catching on as government and business grapple with higher energy costs.
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Posted
May 29 2008, 03:48 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Here's a super deal to keep kids entertained during summer months: Raising4Boys has provided a list of free or discount movie specials available at theater chains this summer. "Dad" (aka "Nickel" at FiveCentNickel) says, "In case you're not aware, theaters often have special summer promos where they show G or PG films on weekday mornings for free, or nearly so."
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Posted
May 21 2008, 06:24 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Want proof that stay-at-home moms would be earning a pretty good income if they were getting paid for their work? A report by Salary.com says the time SAHMs spend on 10 "mom job functions" -- including housekeeper and psychologist -- would bring $116,805 in the work world. Full-time moms work an incredible amount of overtime at their jobs -- 54.4 hours a week above and beyond the normal 40, the Web site says.
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Posted
Apr 21 2008, 09:33 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Just kidding! Wow, you TV people are scary when you're mad.
I don't really think you should kill your television. But how about turning it off? Say, for most of the time.
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Posted
Apr 03 2008, 12:53 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
We have to admire anyone who can come up with a list of 90 tips about anything, let alone ways to keep kids occupied in productive ways. Debbie Dragon's list at Destroy Debt is incredibly creative and amazingly simple. In fact, we want to try some of these because they sound like so much fun. There's "target squirting." Put plastic cups on a fence post or a person's head and squirt them off with a water gun or simple plastic water bottle. She also suggests a fun game to play with water balloons. (We're in!) A lot of these ideas are great for summer when kids are out of school. There's "dirt restaurant." Send them outside with some plastic dishes. "They can make salads from leaves and flower petals, mud pies, and tree-bark chicken," Debbie writes. (Just make sure they don't eat it.)
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Posted
Feb 12 2008, 11:16 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Those facing a decision about staying at home with a new child or returning to work could do no better than to read Madison's personal analysis at My Dollar Plan. She figures in the obvious factors -- lost pay, reduced work-related and child care expenses -- and others that many people probably wouldn't think of. For instance: How would reduced family income affect any future plans to refinance the mortgage? How would happen to her future Social Security earnings? How would staying at home now affect her plans to have more kids later. And this: "If I didn't go back, would I resign, or would I take a leave of absence (which preserves my start date)? How does it affect my pension calculation?" she writes. She also asked readers to point out any factors she missed.
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Posted
Oct 18 2007, 03:23 PM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Trent at The Simple Dollar urges calm for expectant mothers worried about how to afford a new mouth to feed, clothe and educate . His post is a primer on the tax benefits of raising a child: a $3,200 tax deduction, a $1,000 tax credit , and a child-care tax credit of up to $3,000. It's also a testament to the human ability to adapt and survive (people can "squeeze water from a rock" if they have to, he notes), and a nod to common sense. After all, you'll be spending a lot less time out on the town or leisurely strolling down enticing department store aisles.
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