Search results for children
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Posted
Sep 27 2007, 09:33 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Your daughter is a "late-bloomer." She's 28 and still living at home. What's your obligation to her, particularly when supporting her is delaying your retirement? A young blogger examines the ethics involved in this situation.
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Posted
Nov 12 2007, 10:38 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
For all you parents and parents-to-be who are worried about money, here's a bit of modern heresy: cloth diapers. I'm not talking about the pricey ones that can cost up to $28.50 apiece , but about plain, unfolded cotton diapers. I used them when my daughter was born 29 years ago. I bought “slight irregulars.” Honest. The only thing wrong with them was that the blue “CURITY” stamp had run or was blurred. They cost $3.99 a dozen. Obviously, the price has gone up. But a quick Internet search unearthed unfolded nappies for as cheap as $11.96 a dozen. You also might check Craigslist , local parent groups and -- best-case scenario -- freecycle.org . I suggest getting at least six dozen to start. As the baby grows, so does its bladder, and you'll have to double the diapers. (I used double diapers at night right from the start.) That’s an initial investment of about $72 plus tax, and you'll also have to buy plastic pants or diaper covers. According to an MSN article , you’ll spend about $2,000
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Posted
Dec 07 2007, 07:01 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Angie at Baby Cheapskate said there is never a reason to pay full price for disposable diapers, and she should know. This blogger tracks diaper sales like the National Weather Service monitors wind gusts. She reports: "In the last two years, there have been four weeks when you couldn't buy a jumbo of Pampers Cruisers or Huggies Supreme for $9 or less -- once in 2006, once in February, once in April, and once in October of this year. Even then, megas, supermegas, or boxes were on sale, and there may have been a good sale in your neck of the woods, but not mine."
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Posted
Dec 17 2007, 09:53 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
How much should a stocking stuffer cost? Not $25, I hope.
Recently MSN ran an article touting "small treasures for under $25." It freaked out a Smart Spending message board reader named "surfacing."
Surfacing, who has three kids, leans toward practical stuffers like new toothbrushes and cartoon character bandages. (Come on, who doesn't want a Dora the Explorer Band-Aid covering up his latest owie?) The reader wanted more ideas -- frugal ones.
I'd be willing to bet plenty of us don't spend $25 total on stuffers for the whole family. Readers seemed to agree, and jumped in with suggestions.
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Posted
Jan 10 2008, 10:06 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from David Wood at partner blog ConsumerAffairs.com. While junk e-mail keeps us busy hitting the delete button, unsolicited advertisements and offers through old-fashioned snail mail also can sow the seeds of confusion. Not many do this better than a Nevada-based credit offer called First National Card. First National Card -- offered by both Consumer Credit Services Inc. and Capital Credit Alliance Inc. -- is one of the most confusing and complained-about credit offers anywhere. The two companies -- CCS and CCA -- reside in the same Las Vegas office building and offer the same products, but are owned by two different people. They generate numerous consumer complaints annually to consumer protection agencies, Web sites and just about anyone else willing to listen.
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Posted
Jan 29 2008, 04:59 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Kyle at Rather Be Shopping offers some standard advice for using the tax rebate that's part of a federal economic stimulus proposal: Pad your emergency fund or retirement savings, or pay off debt. But you won't find his "5 stupid things to do with your rebate" anywhere else. The first one: Buy some water, specifically a case of Bling H2O. He writes: "At $40 a bottle you will surely quench your thirst for stupidity. If not, try drinking this stuff from a dog bowl with your canine."
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Posted
Feb 29 2008, 09:17 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This guest post comes from Lynnae at Being Frugal. When I was a kid, my family didn't have a lot of money. In most areas, I never felt deprived. I have three younger brothers, so I was always busy playing outside with them. Or picking on them, but we won't talk about that. One thing I did notice was that, with four kids and not a lot of money, we didn't have a lot of clothes. My brothers and I each had three school outfits. We wore two of the outfits on Monday and Tuesday, the third on Wednesday, when my mom did the laundry, and the first two outfits on Thursday and Friday. Every week. I even remember my mom commenting that one of my friend's moms had mentioned that her child had enough clothes to last a week without doing laundry. My mom didn't know how they could afford it. I remember being jealous. Now that I'm an adult, surprisingly, I'm not tempted to overbuy clothes for myself. I hate shopping for myself, and my relatively small wardrobe shows it. However, I do have a tendency to overbuy for the kids. I think that somewhere in the deep recesses of my memory, I'm afraid that they won’t have enough clothes.
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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
Apr 09 2008, 05:29 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller. Fear of change can be a powerful, all-consuming force in our lives. It can keep us from pursuing our dreams. It can keep us in a destructive relationship. And fear of change can cause us to make some really bad investing choices. I had to confront my own fear of change six years ago. At that time I was partner at a very large firm. I had worked eight hard years to make partner and had enjoyed the fruits of my labor for two years as a partner. And then I quit. I quit because I was tired of choosing my career over my family. So I took a six-figure pay cut and accepted a job that wasn't nearly as prestigious. It was one of the most frightening things I've ever done. I kept asking myself -- am I nuts for doing this? I went from a corner office to a windowless office literally the size of a broom closet. I went from being the boss to being an absolute nobody. And it was the best career choice I ever made. The decision taught me a lot about confronting my fear of change. From that experience, I learned five steps that can help anybody overcome a debilitating fear of change.
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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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