My girls are passed the apple sauce diet stage, but I know feeding kids at any age is expensive. For parents with newborns, you can save a lot of money for the next two weeks on Gerber baby foods with this $1 off coupon. Word has it that you can print and use as many as you like. One lady told me she bought over 100 jars!
When you think about what kind of legacy you want to leave for your kids, why not an established business with a good stream of income. Business has risks, but if you’ve taken most of them already, passing your business on to your children is a great idea.
I worked for my Dad after I left high school, just helping out in the workshop, and driving doing deliveries. While reading through my emails, I happened upon this article from the Sloan brothers on their site startupnation.com. It describes the Ponzi family, who run a winery in the North West.
They offer some great advice on how to get you kids interested in the business in the first place;
Soft Sell. When it comes to getting your children interested in the business, a soft sell is better than a hard sell. Though the Ponzi children worked in the vineyards growing up, they did it by their own choosing. While Dick and Nancy knew their true hope was that the children would one day carry on the legacy she and her husband had created, they stuck to their strategy. “The children had to decide for themselves that they wanted to be a part of it,” Nancy told us. “In our early years, we made some bad agricultural choices, but one thing we did right was giving the kids the choice to do whatever they wanted with their lives. We didn’t force them into the business. There were no expectations.”
You can find the article here.
Hobbies can be a great thing. They take up some of your kids time, and can be an outlet from studies. You have a choice whether to encourage your kids to try new things, or stick to hobbies and pastimes you have an interest themselves.
Sometimes, organised sports for kids can be a godsend. They can be great to develop budding talent. But the problems kids face with peer pressure at school can be mirrored on the sports field. A bit of banter is part of a lot of sports, and constitutes much of the mental side of most sports. Kids who struggle to pick up the game, or skills, fall down the pecking order with the other kids.
Sometimes the main issue for some parents is the cost of the equipment. The latest kit can cost from a hundred dollars, and the sky’s the limit. (BTW How much does a Polo pony cost, in £2007 dollars?)
In my next post on sports and hobbies, we’ll look at some ideas on how to save lots of cash on sports equipment.
I’ve just spent the day looking around town for clothes for my 6 year old daughter. What a nightmare!
It seems she is at the point at which the cute kids clothes change to smaller versions of adult fashions. I’m not too happy buying my daughter strappy tops and tunics. She’s a bit of a tom boy, and it doesn’t make good sense if they’ll get ruined in a few wears.
It looks like its another summer in Old Navy t-shirts and Pineapple dance pants for her!
Oh well, at least she has school uniform !
A subject for next time…
Earlier in the week, I wrote about Mothers Day - It’s this Sunday ! 5 Ways to Not Score an Own Goal !
Here’s A few other ideas -
Buy her a new bag! - something practical, or may be not ?- More here
Or look from a great number of branded gifts at gifts.com .
Kimberly L. Keith, who writes on Parenting issues at About.com, has compiled a great list of project ideas. It’s really great to do these with your kids, they’re cheap and mean so much more..
It’s Mothers Day in North America this Sunday, May 13th. Try not to get ripped off.
Here’s a few money-saving tips for the day.
1. Don’t buy flowers, they’re hellishly expensive, especially close to the day itself. The only reason to choose flowers is if you pick your own in your garden.
2. Chocolates are alright, but wasn’t it Easter just a few weeks ago?
3. Go visit a craft store. You will be able to help your kids make a card, maybe decorate a photo frame. It’s personal and a great gift, especially made by your kids.
4. Steer clear of a brunch out. Many smaller restaurants up the prices on Mother’s Day, and you can end up paying double or even more, if you can get a reservation that is. Go to the grocery store, get some fresh salad, fruit, a cake or two, and make a picnic. Even if you just have it at home, she’ll really love it. Breakfast in bed is also a great idea.
5. Don’t forget it! The cost of guilt-ridden purchases always far exceeds your original budget, and is never met with the same response as a genuine, hand-made gift.
Good Luck !
When it becomes time to help your kids choose a college, how much choice do you want them to have?
It is really easy to push your kids to go to your old school. They might have visited there already. You might still have friends who live nearby. You know how safe the campus is. Or used to know…
The main considerations these days are;
Does college X do the course I want?
Is college Y near home, or will I have to live on campus? Can I live on campus?
What are the fees, can I get help through scholarships, bursaries, family ?
Will I need to work as well to make ends meet?
How long will it take me to pay off that student loan?
What’s the pastoral care and community like. Is it secure?
Nowadays, you can pretty much go to college in any country and have your qualification recognized worldwide.
Denise Witmer has written a great article about picking a college with your teen…
Begin at the beginning. You can start by asking easily digestible questions: What are your teen’s interests? How do these interests play out as careers? What major would that lead your teen into choosing? What colleges offer that major? What are the pro and cons to each of those colleges? When you and your teen take the time to go through these questions, and answer them thoroughly, you’ll both be confident in the college that is chosen.
There’s a great article in how to explain the concept of money to your kids on the FQ magazine website, over here in the UK.
It explains how children’s average pocket money (allowance) rose by 35 percent in one year, between 2004 and 2005. Would you say no to a 35 percent rise at work. Would your boss laugh you right out of the office???
What do your kids do to get their allowance. Do they have to do chores? Get good grades?
Do you use their allowance as a discipline tool? What if they don’t do their chores?
I think that you should make their allowance just enough so they can save for what they want. If its too much, and you also sub them too often, they might be unable to cut back when they have to control their own finances when they move out on their own. They should also learn to make the most of what they’ve got. If they have some old toys or playstation games, either donate them to charity of sell them on something like ebay, and give them to proceeds to put towards something they want.
As well as teaching the value of the items they have, it also helps to control the clutter in the home.
Read more of the article here.
I am a great supporter of Getting Things Done, the time management system developed by David Allen. I use it pretty much all the time to keep up to date with the stuff which must be done in my daily life.
I was surprised to hear that the education system, both in the UK and in North America, put little emphasis on time management. Perhaps its because students time is micro-managed by the school system. When your kids finish school, you have expectations as a parent that they will be prepared for the ‘real’ world, as we like to call it.
Quite often though, they’re not. They don’t understand how to manage their finances, so we keep having to bail them out. They don’t manage their time, and often spend too much time socializing and not enough studying.
Brian Kim, who’s blog is a great source of information on productivity recently wrote an article on the topic,’The Top 5 Things that Should be Taught in Every School‘ which has ellicited a large response. Do you agree??
Even something as basic as creating a simple budget is beyond the grasp of some young adults and it simply amazes me that a lot of people don’t do this and some don’t even know how (you’d be surprised). Figure out your income after taxes, pay yourself FIRST (this is a big one – most people pay the bills and frivolously spend the leftovers until next payday), see what you can cut out if things are tight, look to see where you can bring in more income if you need to do so, etc.
So, you’ve got your first child off to kindergarten, and you’ve decided you don’t want a second yet, but you might later. What are you going to do with all the baby stuff?
Well, first you’ll have a load of stuff that was unsuitable, which you can just sell or give away. Donate It!
You might have some handed down family gear, like a crib or basinette, which will need to be cleaned and put into storage. Keep It!
You’ll also have some things that you’ve used so much they’ve worn out, like the stroller. Trash It!
Last though, you’ll have some items which you will need to replace if you have more kids. Replace It!
For us, this included the crib mattress (you should aways buy new, they don’t cost much), some clothing (girls don’t suit GI Joe Jammy’s) and the car seat.
The reasons for replacing our car seat were threefold. First, a better one became available. Second, the cloth seat cover got a bit mildewy in the attic. And lastly, safety belts only have one big stretch in them. If you’ve had a lot of use, or have the misfortune of an accident, the belts will be slack, and the buckle may have worn.
You’ll feel like me that every one of your children deserves the best you can give. But that doesn’t mean spending load of hard-earned cash on name brands. What you are looking for is quality, and cost per use.
Look for items on sale at the end of line, just because its last years stroller doesn’t mean its any different underneath. Quite often some of the major brands (of our stuff, it was Mama’s and Papa’s) just change the fabric pattern on the accessories, and the product underneath is the same for years.
Don’t forget you’ll need some black trash bags, some labels or tape you can write on, a permanent marker or two, oh and yes, some uninterupted time…
Take your time, one really good idea is to offer use of the bulky stuff to your friends with kids, with the understanding that it is a loan.
Good Luck !
The concept of the start over dad (SOD) is a complex one. With the high rate of divorce and separation nowadays, and an increase in both credit and disposable income, some couples are waiting until later in their lives for children.
The start over dad already has kids from a previous relationship, who are already in their late teens or twenty’s. Then he has a child with his new partner. Although he might have experience of bringing up kids, his former partner may have been much more involved with their upbringing than he was.
The most positive aspect of SOD’s is that most people have more financial wealth the older they get. They shouldn’t struggle with financial worries.
The main issue for me is that by the time the child reaches college, their parents will no longer be earning. In a previous post I mentioned that the cost of college for a child born in 1999 will be approx. $200,000. This could put a serious dent in your pension and personal wealth, and could reduce the help you could give your kids when they start a family.
Another 451 Press writer, Erinn, over at ParentingOurChildren.com, has posted a great article about Start Over Dads.
Doesn’t a woman have a right to have a child with her husband no matter what his age? Women are having babies later in life now also.
I am very interested in what you think about SODs.
Do you think it is right/wrong?
Who said good things don’t happen to good people? I really appreciate Foster Dads, as they give lots of love and guidance through tough times.
Lucky guy, but we’re all the lucky ones to know that there are people like this to step in if any of our kids were to need help in the future…
Getting Things Done - is hopefully what Dads do best. If you, like me, use some of David Allen’s principles on a daily basis, here’s a taster of how you can apply GTD to your finances.
The Problem
When my daughter was born it became instantly clear that my ’seat of the pants, I can remember everything’ attitude had to change . I started to steadily come unstuck when I met the ever-growing freight train of ‘things to remember’.
Has the baby had her feed?
Am I giving the wife enough attention?
Where are the cats?
Do the rabbits need cleaning out?
Did I get fuel for the car ? …..aaarrrggghhh!
The Solution
I found two really good tips as a starting point. Firstly, was to get rid of as much unwanted tasks as possible. Secondly, to get rid of as much clutter as possible.
-I laid a patio, put in some evergreen shrubs, and barked over a large part of the garden, so as to reduce maintenance.
-I cleared the shed, bought a new mower, a new tool box and shelves, and labelled everything.
-I bought new cupboards fro my daughters room, and got everything away.
-I got rid of the old bike I had been planning to fix, the spare car parts from previous models, and old sports equipment.
-My wife and I got rid of any everyday clothes we hadn’t worn in twelve months (and replaced tatty ones we had).
And lastly we reduced our non-work activities to those we could do as a family. It actually helped us spend more time together planning trips for the next week.
I got a lot of help with these tasks from Dawna Walters book, The Life Laundry. It’s a great book, and it gives you great tips for clearing stuff you don’t need. It is very prescriptive, and if you have lots of storage space you wont get a huge amount out of it, but if you, like us, are rapidly running out of room, it’s a godsend.
The only problem is though, if you’re planning to have more kids, where do you keep all the gear until they arrive?
I’ll answer that one next time…
/>Dad may have to reassess his life. Funny, also sad and disturbing. Near-classic. Says everything about today’s material world in a few sentences. The kid wants what he wants.
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