Kids Ain't Cheap

But They Sure Are Worth It

5 Awesome Ideas for Entertaining Kids While Stuck Inside

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Entertaining kids can be hard during the winter. Everyone just wants t get outside! If you've got cabin fever here are five ideas to try.It was only three weeks ago I was bragging about the beautiful winter we were having. It was temperate and overall pretty enjoyable. Then February hit. It has been a very long three weeks for us, dealing with a ton of heavy snow and ice like I’ve never experienced before. There is currently about six inches of ice on the walkway to our vehicle. Not fun.

Every day that we wake up my daughter asks if today is the day we can go to the playground and if the snow has melted yet. Unfortunately I have to say no. Playing outside in the winter can be fun but unfortunately we have been stuck inside dealing as the ice and extreme cold have made it impossible to enjoy fresh air.

Given that we have been dealing with serious cabin fever I have been looking for things to break the fever a little and this is what we have come up with:

Have a dance party!

Kiddo loves to dance so to get some exercise and lift our spirits a bit we blast music and dance in the living room. She has a ton of fun showing off her dancing skills and we’re able to burn some toddler energy off.

Crafts

Painting is something we don’t do every day since there is a little more involved than pulling out a box of crayons so kiddo is always excited to find out we’ll be playing with paint. I love the dollar store for craft supplies. For less than $10, I have months of supplies for days just like this. It’s amazing what some imagination and a few cheap supplies kids can come up with. Pinterest is a mecca of craft ideas for kids of all ages too.

Clean up

I know this isn’t the funnest idea, but if you’re forced to stay inside it’s a good time to tidy things up. I have been looking for a day to go through toys with my daughter and have her help decide which ones we can get rid of and donate.

Exercise

We own a treadmill which is great for weather like this, that is if you’re old enough to operate it. Obviously my daughter, who isn’t quite three, can’t use it but that doesn’t mean she can’t get some exercise in. YouTube is full of videos geared for young children’s fitness. Yoga, stretching, dancing are just a few. Watching a three year old do yoga is entertaining too.

Quiet time

This will depend on the age(s) of your kids but sometimes it’s nice to enjoy a little quite time with reading and games. This only lasts so long as I can attest to. We’ve already read all of her favorite books and played with all of her puzzles. It’s nice while it lasts though!

Sometimes I question my sanity for living in an area where this weather can be expected but all we can do is make the best of it! I know it won’t last forever and in just a few weeks I’ll be walking outside with no coat on and cursing the muddy ground. Until then though all I can do is beat cabin fever one day at a time.

What ideas do you have for entertaining kids in the winter?

The Growing Trend of Banning Sledding

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All across North American cities are banning sledding? But is it necessary to ban something like this? Here's my take.I’m way late to this party but apparently there is a growing trend in North America. Banning sledding, or tobogganing, in some public parks. The argument being that there are too many sledding related injuries in children and teens related to sledding. Also, lawsuits are a rising issue, so there’s that. Lawsuits for willingly putting yourself into an object that uncontrollably flies down an icy hill…

Picture this: Six year old girl excited to try out friend’s new super-fast sled he got for Christmas. Girl jumps on sled, flies down the hill, doesn’t know how to stop, bursts right through picket fence at end of hill, stopped only by house in path of sled. Broken fence. Broken sled. Broken collar bone, snapped clear in two pieces.

I Love Sledding

I was in grade one and aside from the whole broken collar bone thing have never had so much fun in my life. There was no threat of lawsuit, there may have been a stern talking to from my mom about doing something I was not prepared for, but guess what, huge life lessons were learned that day.

I loved sledding. I still do as an adult and can’t wait to take my daughter now that she’s a bit older. Growing up in any country that experiences winter, sledding one of the ways we make winter enjoyable. I enjoy living in a country that experiences four distinct seasons. Winter can be harsh but there is a lot to enjoy about it as well. If you’ve ever experienced a perfect winter day there is no shortage of fun outdoor activities, sledding being at the top of most people’s list.

Why should it be taken away?

People sled on their own free will. They want to have fun and the thrill, risk and adrenaline associated with it is why we have been seeking to do this for thousands of years. I can’t imagine growing up in a city with a massive hill screaming to be sled down after a perfect snowfall and be told I couldn’t because I might hurt myself? Of course I might! It sounds stupid but its part of the fun.

I feel like we live in such a weird era with how we bring up our children. There are SO many people trying to influence us. Gone are the days when you had only your mom and grandparents to turn to, now with the internet being what it is, it only takes one overreaction to turn into an all-out ban on sledding. Ridiculous.

This is a perfect example of how we’re way too protective of our children. Let kids be kids. Let adults who want to act like kids do so. Sledding is a rite of passage when we’re forced to live in an environment that experiences winter.  Will there be injuries, yup! Will property get damaged, probably. But at the end of the day memories will be made and 25 years later you’ll be telling the story about the epic sledding crash you had in the first grade. As a Canadian who has endured many winters I wear the scar associated with my sledding accident with pride.

Do you think banning sledding in some major cities (public parks, school yards etc.) is a good idea?

Frugal Fall Family Fun!

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Frugal Fall Family Fun Ideas!Fall can be a temperamental time of year. Where I live, yesterday was beautiful, sunny and a great day to be outside where today is dreary, wet and all round nasty out. Anytime we go through a seasonal change, Mother Nature doesn’t seem to know what to do with herself and goes to extremes. While in the summer we spend most all of our days outside, in the fall we start outside and often end up indoors.

There are plenty of frugal, fun fall activities the entire family can enjoy, even with Mother Nature’s temperamental state.

Hike

I don’t know what it is about the fall but as soon as the leaves start to change and the weather cools off I want to find a walking trail or hill and get outside. More than any other time of year I want to be outside and doing it with the family is a perfect outing. If you have young children hiking up a mountain side may be too much but you can likely find a decent walking trail you can all run around on (or bring a stroller/baby carrier).

You-Pick

Nothing screams ‘’fall’’ like picking your own apples or pumpkins. Not only is this a cheap way to get a large volume of fresh produce, it’s a lot of fun and can be done with kids of any age. Young kids will have fun picking the apples off the ground where the older kids can carry what is sure to be the big heavy bag! Pumpkin patches are also great fun to run around in and explore, if they are one to grow extra-large pumpkins, kids will be sure to have fun marvelling at their sheer mass.

Baking

Though I love baking for Christmas, I love the flavors of fall baking more than any other time of year. Once you come home with your fresh bag of apples have family time in the kitchen baking up a storm! There is sure to be a task for kids of all ages from searching out the recipes to dumping the measuring cups into the bowl. Though you can be sure there will be a much larger mess than if you had done the job yourself I can promise it won’t be as fun.

Craft Time

Construction paper turkeys, wax paper leaves, pumpkin paining or carving, there is no shortage of fall crafts for kids of all ages! The younger kids can pick the pattern for pumpkin carving and you or older kids actually do the carving. Craft time is something I’m just starting to explore with my daughter and its bringing floods of memories from my childhood, so much fun and super cheap. Dollar stores make craft time that much more affordable too when you do need to go out and buy craft supplies.

Fall is when nesting mode kicks in for me. Fall and winter, more than any other time of year, are about family time for me. We need to just enjoy being together. It’s about having fun and creating memories, not spending money.

5 Tips for Planning a Cheap Family Getaway

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family vacationLast weekend I had the luxury of getting out of town with the family, even though we didn’t go very far it was so nice to just get out of our normal routine and boundaries. You don’t have to spend a ton of money to enjoy a family getaway. We managed a weekend away for less than $200 by finding some deals and capitalizing on cost savings, you can too.

Shop Around

We knew we’d need a hotel for the evening but weren’t interesting in spending a ton of money. I also knew we’d likely be spending a decent amount of time in our room given that we have a little on who is asleep fairly early so wanted it to be comfortable and spacious for my husband and I to enjoy while she was sleeping, without being overpriced. The internet makes searching for stuff like hotels a breeze. I found exactly what we needed for below the price we were willing to spend.

Look for Discount Options

We were planning to attend a specific event, if we signed up for notifications from the hosting vendor we would be granted a 25% discount on ticket price. Given that there we a total of seven of us traveling it saved us a decent chunk of money. We also saved on parking at the event itself because they considered us a carpool (more than 4 people), a nice surprise.

Enjoy and Seek Out Perks

I hate paying for parking at hotels, given the rate at which they charge you to sleep in a room I think it’s insane to charge upwards of $40 per day in some cities to park your car on top of room rate. I always look for hotels with free parking before ever paying. I also compare the room rate for breakfast vs. no breakfast included. At our particular hotel not only did we have free parking for only $10 more per night then the other hotel we were looking at, we got hot breakfast included. Our family of three certainly can’t eat (out) for less than $10. The hot breakfast is almost always worth the money to me.

Share Costs

A few family members were traveling with us to go to the same event to we decided to cut one of the cars out and share the cost in our vehicle instead. They save on wear and tear on their vehicle and we shared the cost of gas which was a help to both parties involved. We also shared a hotel room. Paying for the larger room and extra persons charge was still significantly cheaper than us each getting a room and it was nice to have the extra company!

Bring Your Own Snacks

Buying snacks on the road can get expensive. We always pack our collapsible cooler with drinks and light snacks for us and kiddo so we’re not tempted to waste money at gas stations and pit stop locations. We have a child who much prefers to graze throughout the day then eat larger meals so this works especially well for us.

With a little planning it is possible to plan a weekend away with your family and not break the bank. Proper budgeting will insure you can get away without worrying how you’re going to pay for it all when you get back!

The Importance of Reading to Your Child

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reading to your childWhen we were in the hospital after I delivered my daughter one of the things that was given to us was a cloth bag with a few children’s books in it. When I asked what it was she explained that the hospital gave out this package to all new families as a way to encourage early reading. I thought it was crazy that they would need to even need to implement such a program (thinking about the cost of the program) but the program coordinator was the first to open my eyes to the growing issue of children simply not being exposed to books anymore.

Reading in the Digital Age

Kids aren’t getting read to, out loud, as much anymore. With the growing use of electronics especially, digital programs are replacing time with mom and dad and reading good old fashion books. Most pediatric societies argue children should have zero screen time until at least age two, some even older citing kids should have zero screen time until the age of five to seven. Screen time including television, computers and all other electronic devices.

While I do agree that screen time should be seriously limited, my daughter, being two years old is allowed to watch an episode or two of her favorite show. Where I draw the line though is introducing her to a computer or tablet device, especially to replace time she reads books.

Reading Aloud – The Old Way

My house is overrun with children’s books. We have hundreds of them, and it drives me crazy sometimes but listening to my just two year old run around the house yelling her ABC’s at the top of her little (ok, not so little) lungs makes me happy and reminds me why we have so many books.

We started reading to her as part of her daily routine which we implemented from a very young age. While she was really young, and not so active and on-the-go, we would read and look at books all day long, I mean what else could she do?! Now that she’s a very active toddler and outside playing and with other kids, we still set aside time to read every day.

She gets quiet time and books at a minimum before her nap and bedtime which, given how busy we are, is more than sufficient for me and much more than most kids are getting unfortunately. In a recent study, parents who did not read to their children on a regular basis (almost 50% of children by the way) cited not having enough time in the day to do it. To which I argue my husband and I both work full-time, have other responsibilities and side jobs, there is no way I could ever justify not having five to ten minutes a day to read to my child.

I’m not totally hating on technology but studies have shown that reading (old school) books out loud with pictures and words develops children much more than any electronic. Children who are read aloud to every day are stronger academically and have a much broader vocabulary. Benefits aside, I wouldn’t trade my evening reading and cuddle time for anything in the world, it’s my favorite part of our day!

For more on reading, and how to make sure you spend the best time with your children doing so, check out these great articles.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Wants To Give Your Child a Free Book Every Month
A Fun and Economical Way to Get Kids Interested in Reading: Comic Books
Here are 8 of the Best Kids Books On Audible
4 Best Mini-Safes to Protect Valuable Comic Books

Do you read aloud to your children?

5 Ways Busy Moms Can Find More Time

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busy momsAs a parent it can feel like you have no time to yourself.

You’re juggling working, cooking, cleaning, and of course, taking care of your little ones.

So if you could free up a little bit of extra time in your day, what would you do with it? Take a nap? Read a book? Watch TV? Take a hot bath?

Oh, the possibilities are endless!

Here are five easy ways for you to make more time in your day.

#1 Prepare Your Meals in Advance

This is something that requires a little extra effort but will literally free up about an hour a day for you!

Start by making a meal plan. Try to make at least 3-4 of these meals crockpot friendly.

Now one day a week (my family does this on Sunday) prepare as much of your dinners as possible.

For crockpot cooking you’ll simply add all the ingredients you need into one freezer bag and pop the bag into the freezer. Then when it’s time to make the meal empty the contents of the bag into the crockpot and when dinner time rolls around you’ll have a delicious meal and not much clean up.

# 2 Use a Mobile Payment for Small Purchases

Do you have to dig through your purse to find your wallet? How long does that take?

With new mobile payment options you can simply link a credit card to your banks mobile app for easy access. You won’t even have to worry about bringing your purse with you.

If you’re out for a quick stroll with the kids you can pay by mobile for all your small purchases.

# 3 Clean Smarter

With little kids cleaning is an everyday chore.

One way that I’ve found to make this easier is to sit a plastic bin in the rooms the kids play the most.

After the kids have drug out all of their toys you can simply throw them all in the plastic bin and then dump them back in the toy box.

This solution works well for laundry too.

#4 Pick Your Kids Clothes in Advance

If you have little girls who like to take an hour to choose their outfits in the morning, you can save time by having them do this at night.

Have each child quickly choose what outfit she’ll be wearing (give them ten minutes) the following day. Lay the clothes out in a central spot.

This will make your mornings run much smoother.

#5 Run All Your Errands at Once

Before you head out to the post office or grocery store make a list of all the errands you need to run for the week.

By consolidating your errand running into one day you’ll save not only time, but also money spent on transportation.

What other ways can busy moms save time?

Frugal Summer Fun For Your Toddler

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frugal summer activities for kidsIt’s hard to believe that June is here!

The weather is finally starting to warm up (the cold weather was dragging on forever here) and we’re venturing outside. This is the first summer that my daughter could really ”do anything”. She was born in June so last year, being only one, was just learning how to walk and explore.

This year, a full-fledged active two year old, requires strategic planning to keep her entertained. The good thing is that she’s only two so doesn’t really know how or what is out there unless we expose her to it. The bad thing is that she is very busy and requires me to be as creative as I can be to keep her entertained all summer.

After pursing the internet and talking to my mom and teacher friends, I have come up with a list of fun fugal outdoor activities for your toddler:

  • Painting with water. We did this the other day and it’s as easy as it seems. Bucket of plain water and a paintbrush! We painted the driveway and fence. This literally entertained her for over an hour and 100% mess-free!
  • Chalk/bubbles. Another favorite and cost less than $1.
  • Explore your neighbourhood. I like taking walks with kiddo before it gets too hot in the summer mornings. It’s usually not too busy traffic-wise and I can let her out of the stroller to just run ahead of me a little to burn off some energy herself.
  • Parks and playgrounds. When we’re on our walks we will often stop at a local playground to run around. Bonus if there are other kids present for her to play with otherwise mom is getting an added workout playing too 🙂
  • DIY Sandbox or dirtbox. Little fact: Kids love to dig and play in dirt. We plan on buying a cheap kiddy pool (less than $10) and filling it with either sand or dirt. We can hide a few toys within the sand/dirt and let them dig it out. I went to the local dollar store and purchased some little shovels and a toy dump truck for her to play with in said box.
  • Beach days. Great idea of you’re close to one!
  • Picnics. There’s something so fun about eating outside. You don’t even have to go anywhere, you’re own backyard will do. It’s the change in routine that will have them entertained.
  • Treasure hunt. Take objects (ideally kids toys) and hide them outside having them find them based on description such as ”eye spy something that is red”.
  • Garden. Kids love helping. Something like a garden is something they can help with (maybe something as simple as buying them a tiny watering can sort of thing). Have them help pick out flowers and I’m sure the first thing out of their mouths every morning will be ”flowers!”. They will love the added responsibility to help keeping it alive.

Keeping little ones entertained can be exhausting for parents. It’s so easy to run out of ideas especially with very active toddlers. I hope there are a few new ideas for you and your little one. Bring on warm weather!

What other frugal summer fun ideas can you think of?

Frugal Easter Fun For Kids

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frugal easter fun for kidsI don’t know where the last four months went but suddenly I find myself looking for fun Easter activities for the kids in the family. This year is the first year our daughter will be old enough to really have fun with it so we’re excited to see her reaction to the whole thing.

Growing up my memories include going to church and rushing home to search high and low for the hidden treats the Easter bunny had left. If Easter fell late enough in the year, as it does this year, our fun was almost always outside. All the kids in the family would spend hours looking for hidden treats in the yard. This continued well past us believing the Easter bunny, we still had fun with it all (as grown adults my in-laws still insist on giving us treats!).

In planning our Easter this year, the first place I looked for inspiration was Pinterest, an Easter idea Mecca! I’m hopeful that we should be able to plan a few outdoor activities if Mother Nature cooperates!

Bunny-Hop Hopscotch

This wasn’t anything I found on Pinterest rather something we did as kids. My aunt would draw a few hopscotch patterns on her driveway where we kids would spend hours hopping around, with bunny ears on our heads. This was of little cost. She would give us cheap bunny ears to wear (pre dollar store days, she would make them from construction paper, such as this, but you can buy them at dollar stores now). If the weather isn’t good you can make a hopscotch game with painters tape or masking tape on the floor.

Glow in the dark Egg Hunt

This is a new-to-me idea where you fill little plastic Easter eggs (again, cheap from any craft or dollar store) with flexible glow sticks and treats and search for them in the dark. Though this would be a super fun idea to do outside when the kids are a little older, I’m planning on doing it inside after dinner since it will still be light outside when kiddo goes to bed. Shutting the blinds and making it dark in the basement while searching for glowing eggs should be a fun game.

Treat Decorating

Decorating cookies, gingerbread houses and cupcakes is something we always did at Christmas, never any other time of the year which was sort of silly in hindsight. I plan on making simple sugar cookies or cupcakes for dessert and providing Easter appropriate ‘decorations’ for the kids to have fun with. There’s certainly no shortage of your choice of favorite Easter candy decorations!

Though Easter is traditionally a religious holiday it’s always nice to have fun with it, especially with kids. There’s no reason why you need to spend a lot of money though. Have fun on the cheap, kids are more interested in playing and spending time with family than they are monetary value!

Do you do anything special at Easter for family fun?

Cherishing Moments

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Cherishing Special MomentsThe world we live in is moving at mach one. We’re constantly looking to do things faster, more efficient, better. While most of these things are, in my opinion, a good thing, I forget all too often to just live in the moment. I’m always looking forward at point B, not fully experiencing point A.

These past few weeks in particular, my little girl has been super needy. When I’m around she wants mommy. Wants to be held. Wants her blankie. Wants her ”babies” (stuffed animals). Wants attention.

While she has been a bit overly needy because she hasn’t been feeling 100% and is cutting some nasty teeth, I still need to be there for her and I admit, it’s been hard. My phone is constantly going off with both professional and personal notifications. The laundry needs to get done. I need to get groceries. The list of distractions goes on…

This past week in particular, I’ve felt more run down than I have in a long time. My husband injured his leg a week ago and is pretty much totally out of commission. I’ve been working super hard at work because we’re down two employees for different medical related reasons and finally this weekend my immune system took over. I haven’t felt this terrible since before my pregnancy. I officially have no voice, my entire body aches and I’m more than tired.

Why am I telling you all this?

Because I was kicked in the butt this weekend and forced to slow down. The laundry would have to wait. My eyes are too blurry to look at my phone. I can’t get groceries while kid is napping because I needed to nap myself. I didn’t get anything done and we’re still all alive. Everything can wait. For once in a long time I paused. I sat on the couch with my daughter, a cup of tea and 3725 stuffed animals, snuggled under a blankie while my daughter, not even two, reached over and grabbed my hand.

We sat there for a while watching Saturday afternoon cartoons and held hands. She needed me. I needed her and we both needed to just relax together. It was only a brief moment but she grabbed my hand and squeezed it tight, looking at me as if almost to say ”thanks mom, I need you more than laundry/phone/groceries”.

I full heartily believe we as parents can raise better children if we are more engaged in their world.  I admit that I’m constantly trying to make her needs work among my own needs and my busy world. There may be 23 other things I need to get done on my day off but none are more important than me showing my daughter she is the most important thing to me and if she wants to sit with me and watch a cartoon or color with her I’ll do it, distraction free.

Life can wait, cherishing moments cannot.

When’s the last time you slowed down?

Enjoy Sporting Events at a Great Price!

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seats at a sporting eventWe are a sports loving family! The boys’ nursery was sports themed — and now, their bedroom is pretty much the same. Once we moved them to their bunk beds, we did away with the baby stuff and gave their room a “little-big kid” update. We purchased their first baseball gloves when they were still infants — and my Aunt and Uncle made sure they had even better quality baseball gloves for their 1st birthday. Once my Uncle found out A. was a lefty, he promptly went out and purchased him a left-handed glove.

We don’t push sports on our kids but they are surrounded by it. They are still too little to play organized sports (they’ve had soccer lessons but nothing competitive). However, N does love to play baseball — and has grand visions of being a catcher one day.

My husband and I love sports. I’m a huge Bears fan and enjoy watching just about any sport live. My husband follows a variety of sports; baseball, football, hockey, basketball and now that Portland has a pro-soccer team — he might be converted to a soccer fan as well. The boys know all the right teams to cheer for. Although, I’m afraid when they go through their rebellious stage — they’ll, also know the teams they can root for, to drive my husband and I crazy!  I am also proud to say that the boys can recognize logos of quite a few sports teams – at least the important ones anyway. And if you are wondering — no, we don’t quiz them with flash cards.

 

Free Sports Events

Attending professional sporting events can be spendy but there are a lot of other options. For instance, our boys love going to any sporting event, especially ones where they can see their “big kid” friends play. These sporting events are usually free – or cost very little – to enjoy. These games may not have all the thrill and excitement of pro games – but for little ones – they will just love the atmosphere and some great bonding time.

We actually took the boys to their first little league game, when they were only about a month old. Of course they slept through the game  — but I could tell they were really happy to be there. They went to their first middle school football game when they were less than a year old. They liked it, until my friend cheered for her son’s team — which scared A. Actually, he cried through the rest of the game. I am happy to report that he had a much better time the following year — and cheered along with the crowd.

 

Low Price Sporting Events

Semi-pro teams are also a fantastic way to take in a game without spending a ton of money. We actually just took the boys to watch our town’s semi-pro basketball team. Total cost for 2 adults, 2 children, 2 bags of chips , and a bottle of water — $13. You can barely get one person into a movie for that amount of cash! The team plays at the local community college, and it’s a great time for the whole family.

They do free face painting, they are always giving away things, and they even had a station set up so people can make signs, to show the team support. The best part is, if the kids are having a tough time sitting still, or get too tired to be there — you don’t feel like you are wasting money if you need to leave early.

Check out your local area. You may discover a team you didn’t even know about (like we did last year–we had no idea our town had a semi-pro basketball team). Tickets to semi-pro baseball, hockey, car racing, etc. won’t break the bank and you’ll make fabulous memories with the kiddos!

Finally, if you want to really surprise your family or spouse, you can put together a sports package and go see a major sports team or sporting event.  For example, you could find a discount sports package through a service like RoadTrips, and you could get into a great event for a good price.  I’ve done this for my husband’s birthday, and we had a blast.

How do you work sporting events into your budget?

Are You Considering a Divorce?

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divorceThe holidays can be a wonderful time to spend with family and friends.  Though the holidays can be filled with a flurry of activity, most people enjoy the season because they like watching the joy on their children’s faces and the magic of the season.

But unfortunately, the holidays can also be a time of sadness if you are unhappily married.  While you may be able to ignore the trouble in your marriage during the year, the stress and togetherness of the holidays can bring into focus just how unhappy you are.  There’s nothing like attending party after party putting on a happy face when you don’t feel that way at all.

 

Don’t Jump to the End

If you’ve realized that you’re marriage is failing and you’re deeply dissatisfied with it, don’t automatically assume that you’ll need to get a divorce. Instead, you can try to talk to your partner and see if they might be willing to see a marriage therapist with you. If they won’t, you could certainly see a therapist yourself to learn how to deal with the situation. Often, just changing your own behaviors can inadvertently result in your spouse changing their behavior. Similarly, don’t assume that problems in bed mean that the marriage is ending. There are plenty of health conditions that can cause problems, and your partner may not even understand their problem themself. Erectile dysfunction, for example, is unlikely to mean your partner no longer finds you attractive. Instead, it’s more likely to be caused by hormone imbalances, so it might be a good idea to contact an ED Clinic Pasdena, or similar clinic in your own area, to determine the best course of treatment.

 

Consult a Professional

Another step you may want to take is to meet with an experienced divorce lawyer in Daytona Beach, if you live near there or to seek the counsel of one near you.  Consulting with a divorce lawyer doesn’t mean you will get a divorce.  It just means you’re looking at your options.

An initial meeting with a lawyer like those at Peters & May – your family law solution in Mayfair can help you understand what the process will be like and they will be able to give you legal advice surrounding your situation. The lawyer could tell you what steps you should take now, what is required in your state to pursue a divorce as well as how custody arrangements would likely work.

The lawyer will also likely remind you of all the implications of a divorce.  Alimony will need to be determined as well as the splitting of assets.

As well as using the services provided by the lawyer, you may want to investigate your partners behaviour further with the help of a private investigator. For example, if you think your partner may have been unfaithful to you and you need proof before going through with a divorce, then you could hire a Bond Rees private investigator (or amending this to your local area) as they will be able to dig deeper and reveal any secrets that your partner has been hiding from you.

Try To Make Things Work

For many, though, financially, it’s better to stay married.  If you don’t think your marriage is completely over, seeing a therapist and working through your issues is often the best course of action.  Depending on the state you’re in, you may face the loss of half of your retirement fund as well as alimony payments, if applicable.  If you’ve been a stay at home mom, you’ll likely need to re-enter the workforce, which can be a challenge after you’ve been out of it for several years.

However, there are times when a divorce is best for you and your family.  Only you know if you’ve reached that point.  If you have, a good divorce attorney can be very important both to help you with custody of your children and with the fair separation of assets.

If you know friends who’ve been divorced, ask them for their recommendations.  Family friends who are in the legal field may also be able to direct you to an attorney you can trust to get the best divorce settlement for you.

What other tips do you have?

Saving Money By Throwing Themed Parties, Showers and Events

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Camping Wedding ShowerFirst comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby…

At least in my case this is how it went. I started dating my husband when we were just kids in high school. We got engaged and started planning our wedding seven years after we started dating. Since we had already lived together in a small one bedroom apartment, there wasn’t much that we needed in terms of wedding gifts nor did we have much room to store anything for our future home.

If you’re a parent planning a party, shower or event for you kids, or are helping a parent plan an event like this, you need to read this post!

 

Planning a Shower

I didn’t think having a wedding shower was necessary, but being the first wedding on both sides of the family in many years we attending a lot of events because other people insisted. I made it quite clear that I did not need  a shower. It was unnecessary and in my mind, a whole lot of wasted money on, what I pictured to be, kitchen gadgets and pre-baby ”nesting”  supplies. I thought everyone was on board with saving money and not throwing me, or us, a shower.

One summer evening after the summer of our wedding we decided to meet up with the rest of the family for a weekend of camping. Hubby-to-be picked me up after work and we drove the hour to the campground where the rest of the family had been since the day before. We went right to our site to set camp up before dark and proceeded to head on over to the main site where everyone was getting ready to have dinner.

 

Decorating a Fun Event

When we arrived we realized that t he site had been decorated with balloons and signs saying ”Happy Camping Shower”. Our family was throwing us a camping shower instead of a wedding shower! They got the message loud and clear that we didn’t need anything for our home, so instead had a camping shower where under the open sky of the camp site, we opened gifts, all related to camping, our favorite past time. It was amazing.

Having a themed shower, especially if you’re planning an event for your child’s wedding, can be a great way to save money.

A themed shower limits what people buy. In our case, camping stuff, but if you wanted to have a ”kitchen shower” people would likely understand that buying a large picture frame for wedding pictures is not an appropriate gift. Having a themed event is also a great way to make sure you get what you want. Though we didn’t ask for this event, I’m so glad my mother-in-law thought of it.

 

Other Ideas

When my sister-in-law moved out, instead of having a housewarming party we threw her a ”fill their pantry” party where, instead of plants and homey stuff, people brought non perishables for their pantry. Everything from spices to baking supplies. They really did fill their pantry!

Parties, showers and events alike can get quite expensive but with a little planning and creativity, it is possible to save money. Coming up with a theme is just one of many ways!

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