Last week was the book fair at my son's school. Certainly not the most inexpensive place to purchase books, but my son was sure excited. He had big plans to spend his own money. His decision making process surprised me - in the past he's been so careful about his purchases to the point where he's decided not to purchase anything actually. At the book fair, he was pretty much picking up the first thing that caught his eye and wanting to buy it. Sometimes it's hard to let him make his own decisions with his money, but overall he did a great job. Here are a few other things that made an impression on me:
When you're five, apparently you can judge a book by a cover because that's clearly what he was doing.
He was looking at two books when I reminded him that I was going to buy him one soft cover book with my money. He asked how much each one cost and then promptly handed me the more expensive one for me to buy. Smart boy.
I had him pick a book to give to his teacher for his classroom. He chose to pay for this book with his own money even though he didn't have to. I wish I had that same spirit of giving.
Filed under
Buying Things
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by
Alison
on
10:06 PM
Occasionally The Tall One receives tickets from work to local charity events. Saturday was one of those occasions. The dress code was "festive attire" with festive being defined as whatever makes you happy. And you know what I decided made me happy? New shoes. So, I went out and bought some. Quite possibly the best $20 I've spent in quite awhile. I adore these shoes and how I feel when I wear them.
My point is not to advocate retail therapy to cure all that ails you. I know that I rarely spend money on myself as I tend to focus a lot on saving for the future and forget about living for today. Saturday night was a good reminder for me that I need to do things for me every now and then.
Filed under
Buying Things
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by
Alison
on
11:53 PM
This post originally appeared on November 15, 2007, about one year after we bought our first home. This month marks the three year anniversary and I still pretty much feel the same way - perhaps not our best financial decision, but overall it feels like we are in the right place.
One year ago this month, we purchased our first home. Lately The Tall One and I have been reflecting on that decision. Literally the night before we found this house we had decided we were going to wait at least a year before buying so we could save up a down payment. But then we went house hunting anyway, because it's fun, and here we are.
There's really no way to know if it was a mistake or not. Sure we'd have more money in savings had we waited, but in the past year we've payed off a student loan and a car. When money became not so abundant after we bought the house, we really focused on getting rid of our non-mortgage debt. Would we have done that if we didn't buy the house? Who knows.
Money isn't everything though. We've made friends we wouldn't have met had we not bought our house. We've had opportunities we wouldn't have had if we didn't live where we do now. When finances are completely taken out of the picture, it's been the best decision we could have made for our family, and that should count for something.
This post originally appeared on November 14, 2007. It is by far my most popular article I've ever written (you'd be surprised - or maybe not - by how many people google "creative Christmas letter" even in the middle of March). With many people tightening their budgets, I imagine mailed Christmas cards will be among the things to go this year, with many people perhaps opting to send out electronic versions instead. I love receiving a Christmas card in the mail, so I plan to try and send some out this year to return the favor, so to speak. What are your Christmas card plans for this year?
I always love reading all the "this is what our family has done this year" letters that we receive in Christmas cards. Even growing up I thought it was great fun to read letters from friends of my parents that I had never met. Ever since we've been married, The Tall One and I have sent out a Christmas card letter. Last year I was tired of the same old same old and went for something different. I created a timeline that highlighted a few events from the past year. Here are some other ideas for sending out a Christmas letter that's a little different:
Use Numbers
Try and convert events from your family's year into statements relating to numbers, for example:
We moved ONE time this year, from Smallville to Metropolis
We spent TWO days at Funland this summer
John hit THREE homeruns this past baseball season
Mary got FOURth place in the state spelling bee
Dad planted FIVE rows of corn in the garden this summer
Use the Alphabet
Try to come up with an acrostic poem using things that happened to your family in the past year, for example:
W e moved from Smallville to Metropolis
H ad a great time visiting Funland this summer
A unt Sue visited us for Thanksgiving
T he boys did a great job on their baseball teams this spring
A nd Dad had fun coaching Timmy's team
Y es, Dad still works for ABC Company
E veryone is doing great in school
A lso, mom joined a tennis leauge
R eally, we all had a wonderful 2007
Change the Point of view
Let each kid write a sentence or two describing their year, or let the kids write the whole letter. If you have a pet, you could write the letter from the pet's point of view.
Make Some Predictions
I read a letter at my parent's house last year that was written in two parts, the first half in January with the predictions for what the year would bring and the second half at the end of the year with what really happened. This would have to wait for 2008's Christmas letter, obviously.
Keep it Simple
Come up with one or two sentences for each family member that recaps their year. Make those sentences be apart of the card (as opposed to on a separate paper), perhaps written under the family picture, or just have individual shots of each family member with the recap under the appropriate picture.
Those are some of the ideas I've had as I think about what to do this year. Any other ideas?
Filed under
kids' money
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by
Alison
on
9:11 PM
If you have a grade schooler that is ready to learn some money basics, then If You Made a Million by David Schwartz is a book that you should definitely add to your home library.
It talks about the "value" of a dollar (that one dollar equals four quarters, for example) and throws in some fun facts - did you know that if you had $10 in pennies you'd have a five foot stack or that one million $1 bills would weigh 2,500 lbs? It discusses bank accounts and earning interest. It introduces checks and explains how a paper check is connected to real money.
The best part though? It not only teaches about interest one would earn on their own money, but interest that one would pay a bank when taking on a loan. The book emphasizes that when you borrow money, you will end up paying more than you borrowed - perhaps it's a book that many adults would benefit from as well!
What money related books for kids do you love?
(The link above is an affiliate link, so if you click and end up buying anything as a result of that click, I get a teeny, tiny bit of money in return. )
Last Saturday, I taught a mini class at a church event all about creating these jars that are filled with baking mixes. Not that I'm really all that qualified, but I figured I could poke around the internet and experiment a bit.
The internet is full of such "recipes", but it's easy to convert your own recipes into jar mixes. To know if a recipe will be a good fit, add up all the dry ingredients. A quart jar hold four cups but since the ingredients will pack down (and you want them to so your layers don't get too mixed up), shoot for putting about 4 1/2 cups of ingredients in. If you're doing a cookie mix and want to put the baking chips in the jar, 3 1/2 cups of dry ingredients will live a good amount of room for the chips. If you won't be adding any chips, you'll need to make sure your recipe contains at least 4 cups of dry ingredients. Pint jars hold 2 cups, so smaller recipes can squeeze in those.
These make great gifts for those neighbors and friends that you'd like to give a little somthing to. They are also lots of fun to just have around the house!
Have you blogged about something you made recently? Leave me a link in the comment section - I'd love to see it. What to join in next week? Send me an email and I'll be sure to link to you in next week's post.
Filed under
Buying Things
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by
Alison
on
9:47 PM
Last Christmas, I felt bad that Bug was going to have many more gifts than Monkey so I impulsively bought a little toy puppy for him. Later I decided that it was silly to buy gifts just for the sake of buying gifts when the recipient was just 18 months old, so I planned on returning it. But I never got around to it, and I'm so glad.
He loved it then and he loves it now. And to think he almost didn't get it.
The toys that were begged for last year are sort of collecting dust now, the surprise ones were the hits last year. It almost makes me want to go to the store and randomly choose gifts for the kids - it certainly worked last year!
This week, I'm working frantically to tie up loose ends in preparation for a craft day at my church. All of the things offered would make great Christmas gifts, so I'm starting to think about what, if anything, I'll be making for Christmas gifts this year. After Christmas last year, I wrote about how I wasn't sure that making gifts was always a cost effective option. In the past I've made several gifts in an attempt to shave a few dollars off the Christmas budget, but this year I'll think more about if the total cost and effort will really make for a better gift (as in, something the recipient will really like!).
What about you? Will you be creating any gifts this year?
