Spending–and saving–money with Mickey Mouse

This year’s family spending controversy was this: New kitchen floor or first family trip to Disneyland? Floor or happy kids? Floor or magical family time together? You guessed it: We chose Disneyland.

A major trip like this (we went in July) is quite out of character (pun intended) for my husband and me. When we spend money, it tends to be on our house or our kids’ education–stuff we feel will really last. We love to travel, but lately it’s been sooo easy to put it off. It seems a bit, well, luxurious when there are always so many things that need to be done/paid for at home: New roof, new dishwasher, leaking frig….and of course, the ancient, cracking kitchen floor.

Welcome Home: A happy byproduct of the recession

Do tight economic times have you spending more time at home with your kids? If so, you’re not alone. And it can be a good thing. Check out this article: Tough times mean family time at home.

My question: Will we keep this up even after the recessions passes? I hope so.

Cash in on Your Kids– my new e-book about parenting writing!

I’m so excited! Two of my writing colleagues–Kris Bordessa and Jeannette Moninger-- and I just released a great (if I may say so myself) e-book on how to get started writing for magazines about parenting and kids. It’s Cash in on Your Kids: Parenting Queries that Worked and you can check it out here.

Between the three of us, we write for some great, national newsstand publications– Parenting, Family Fun, Parents, Real Simple, Redbook, Better Homes and Gardens and many more. When we interview parents for articles for these cool magazines, they often ask how we got started doing this kind of writing, what it pays, etc. The real question behind their questions: “Could I maybe do this myself?” Kris, Jeannette and I say yes, you can! Unfortunately, we don’t have time to coach every potential parenting writer who approaches us, so Cash in on Your Kids is our answer.

Two great reasons to read this book: 1) In addition to covering the basics on how to get started as a freelance parenting writer, we include 16 of our actual proposals to big-name magazines–the real queries we sent to actual editors. We tell you why the story proposal was a hit and what we got paid (anywhere from $300 to $3,600). You can learn to write your own queries by reading and analyzing ours.  2) We share email formats for many of the major parenting publications–info you won’t have unless you’re already an established freelance writer.

Kids & Saving

MoneySavvy Pig & Cow

MoneySavvy Pig

I love these segmented banks, which I bought for my daughters a while back. They’re from MoneySavvy Generation, a Web site created by Susan Beacham. I interviewed Susan for a Parenting magazine article about allowances, and thought her banks were a great idea so I ordered them the next day. (This company also has segmented banks.)

Each bank has a slot for “Spend”, “Save,” “Donate,” and “Invest.” (We’re not really using the “Invest” slot yet, but we will.) When the girls get their allowances, the deal is that they must put SOME money in each slot. We talked about it ahead of time, so they have a regular plan for how much they’ll put in each compartment. Greg and I didn’t tell the girls how much goes in each slot; we wanted them to make that choice.

Back-to-school savings

Ai, yi, yi — it’s August already! Time to buy the kids new backpacks and school supplies. How is it that an innocent little list of stuff can get so spendy? And I don’t know why, but somehow I ALWAYS forget something on the list. My eyes glaze over and I cross off “glue sticks” or some such but never put them in my shopping cart.

The one thing I’ve learned (I’m such a veteran now, with a 6th grader!) that does save me bucks is NOT to stock up on back-to-school clothing by Sept. 1. When I used to do that, I’d invariably OVERbuy. I see now that it’s OK to start the school year with just a few new items, then see if the girls really need more shirts or underwear later. And really–I have a little time before they need tights. I don’t need to have them in the drawer by the first day of school. Plus, they will definitely be on sale after the September rush is over.

Here are some other ideas on cutting back-to-school costs from “The Family Manager”–Kathy Peel. I’ve interviewed her for several parenting-related articles and she’s one smart cookie. Her books are great, too.