Search Results for: blog is it time for a second home

How Being a Stay-at-Home Parent Saves Money

Are you a stay-at-home parent or want to be? Good news! While you may not be earning and income, chances are you are saving a ton of money. Here is how. Child Care Fees Let us start with the obvious, child care fees. If you aren’t staying home with your children, you will probably need to pay for child care. The cost of child care can be high, sometimes wiping out any income you are gaining by working. Obviously this depends on your position and income level, but it is the first expense you should allow for in your budget. … Continue reading →

Invest Your Time Wisely

“Time is money” is an old saying that is meant to convey the urgency of rushing ahead because any time wasted could be time spent earning money. Many times in our frugal lifestyles, we trade off time in order to save money, such as cooking from scratch instead of going through the fast food line, taking out the time to create a grocery list and clip coupons before shopping, etc. Most of the time these are good choices and have a secondary benefit. The time I spend hanging laundry means saves some money, but it also means that my kids … Continue reading →

Online Safety in the Home

I read a disheartening statistic today. A recent study showed that children are only three clicks away from viewing adult content on youtube. Since we don’t have cable in our home, we often turn to youtube to watch some of my son’s favorite shows together. He knows how to navigate the site well enough to get to the shows he wants, but now I’m not so sure that’s a good thing. The study showed that while watching Dora children were only four clicks away from a music video featuring swearing and nudity. While watching Sesame Street they were a mere … Continue reading →

Two Small Budget Home Improvements that Make a Big Impact

Owning a home means that there is always something to fix or to improve. Living in our homes, we tend to see all of the things we would like to change. Homeowners can easily spend tens of thousands of dollars on home improvement projects each year. Most of us, however, don’t have the luxury of an unlimited home improvement budget. Does that mean that we have to forego improvements completely? Of course not! Small budget home improvement projects are quite possible. In fact, if you know where to apply your money, you can experience big changes in your home for … Continue reading →

Inexpensive Homemade Candy

If you need a last minute gift that will be well received, think about making some inexpensive homemade candies. Homemade candy can be a bit more festive than the usual Christmas cookies but just as inexpensive. Stick with recipes that are simple but delicious in order to spend the least amount of time and money to create your gifts. Plus, since candy can be very rich, you don’t have to make too much of it to still have a significant gift. You will need something to use to hold and present your homemade candy gifts, so start there. Many pretty … Continue reading →

Two Secrets to a Guest-Ready Home

I don’t have the cleanest home in the world, and not every area is neat and organized.  But it is almost always guest-ready.  So if I get a phone call that someone is dropping by, I usually don’t have to run around like a chicken with its head cut off to straighten things up. So what’s my secret?  I have a couple. Let me share the first one.  It is that I don’t make messes and I don’t allow for them. If there is a struggle you or someone in the home is having, when it comes to messes, then … Continue reading →

What to Expect on Day One at Story@Home 2013

The Story@Home conference will take place in February of 2013. Genealogists can choose to purchase a ticket that will give them access to both days of the conference. Or, they can buy a ticket for just one day. Which day should you choose? Here is some information about what to expect from Day One of Story@Home 2013. Story@Home is an annual conference that is going to have its second year in 2013. It is a conference that gives genealogists a lot of good information about how to incorporate family history into their genealogy research. It provides a natural way to … Continue reading →

Would You Get Secondhand Gifts?

Today we were at a large local thrift store. We love this store, and most of our clothes that aren’t hand-me-downs come from there. Yes, even my clothes once lived at this store, and I’m perfectly happy with that. We get other goodies from this store too. Kitchen items, sports items, and baskets for cookies are all there. Today I got some yarn for our Brownie group’s project, a parrot for my daughter’s Halloween costume, and shirts for my daughter. I also got Christmas gifts. This might seem tacky. Perhaps it is tacky. I am likely quite tacky without realizing … Continue reading →

Thinking Of A Seasonal Home Based Business?

As I was out shopping today, I saw workers in one of the stores putting up Christmas trees in their home decorating department. My first reaction was to feel disgusted that Christmas merchandising seems to happen earlier every year. Seriously people, it is not even officially fall yet. My second reaction was that if I were someone who wanted to operate a seasonal business around the holidays, now would be the right time to start planning and preparing for it. The holidays can take up a lot of time and energy for many people. If you have the time, energy, … Continue reading →

Is A Home Party Sales Business A Good Fit For You?

If it seems like you are constantly getting invited to sales parties, you are probably not alone. Many people are taking on direct selling as a full time or part time business. Some people seem to enjoy what they do as home party sales representatives. It is not the right business opportunity for everyone, though. If you are wondering whether direct selling is right for you, read on. It is important to remember that in order to succeed as a direct sales representative, you must enjoy working in sales. This may seem like a simple thing, but often people try … Continue reading →