Recently, some friends with older kids—meaning kids in their mid-to-late teens—were trying to figure out what to do for July 4th. The kids wanted to go to the big fireworks displays. The adults, long since burned out on crowds, heat, and loud noises, came up with a solution: Let the kids borrow the SUV, go […]
Summer is here (yay?). With the kids out of school (assuming you have kids, as I do), it’s a good time to take an hour or two, hunker down, and decide how you’re going to alter your summer finances to accommodate the change. If you’re like me, you love your children, but they can, and […]
Our parents are our support structures for so much of our lives, but as they age, those roles tend to switch. We find ourselves caring for more and more parts of our parents’ lives, from their physical health to their finances. Sometimes it’s necessary to have parents move into our homes so we can better […]
To paraphrase Alice Cooper, school’s nearly out for summer. For those of you with young kids up to tweenagers, the challenge isn’t keeping them entertained; it’s keeping yourself from going insane. With that in mind, there is a solution. Depending on where you live, you can take your kids to see family-friendly movies (not first-run […]
As a parent, I have to remind myself that I’m not raising children. I’m raising adults. So, what does it take to build a successful adult? One factor parents often overlook – and perhaps unknowingly hinder – is resilience. Courtney Boyer, president of Stepping Stones Coaching and certified life coach, says that resilience, an individual’s […]
It’s never too early to teach your kids about money management. The more children know about money at a young age, the more likely they are to establish a healthy and secure financial future. MarketWatch provides a great overview on how to teach your kids real-life financial lessons. Their advice? In order to teach your […]
As the parent of someone who recently turned 4, I have a strong (and unpopular) opinion about birthday parties for children. Here it is: Birthday parties for any kid 4 or under is a waste of time, money, and it will crush your soul. Lots of people out there will read that last sentence and […]
Here’s a question that makes almost every parent I know perspire with anxiety: Now that you have a kid, is one of you going to stay at home? Or is your kid going to daycare? Forget, for a moment, about the shameful state of maternity leave in the United States. Or paternity leave. (My last […]
Since writing for this blog, I’ve touched on, among other things, what to do with tax refunds, how to avoid credit card debt, how to stop freaking out (which is a technical term) about your financial situation, and whether your food budget is killing you. Here’s something less pleasant, but necessary, to think about, especially […]
When I was younger, my family went to Disney World so many times I’ve lost count. If I had to guess, I’d say I was there 25 times before I turned 18. We even met up there on multiple occasions when I was older (everyone but me lived in a different part of Florida so […]