Children

If you're the parent of an infant or if you are expecting, finding cheap diapers is probably on the top of your must-save-cash-somehow list. Fortunately, diapers don't have to break the bank. Unfortunately, finding these little pockets of absorbency on the cheap isn't always easy. But if you follow a few basic save-cash-on-diapers rules, you can walk away with a little savings in your pocket. Here's what I found through trial and error with my first daughter.

Go Cloth

When the pantry’s low and you need a kid-friendly meal fast, here’s a surefire recipe that can get you by for a night, direct from a kid chef. It may not be the healthiest option, but it is surprisingly tasty (even a hot dog hater like me enjoys this meal once in a great while!). So here we go: HDMPC, aka hot-dogs-mashed-potatoes-and-cheese.

Ingredients:

• 1 package of hot dogs (I like lower fat options like turkey dogs)
• Mashed potatoes
• American cheese

Cake baking can get boring. There are usually only a few options for the actual baking: making a traditional cake, whipping up some cupcakes or baking an everyday cake batter in a cake mold. Beyond that, creativity in the cake world has been assigned to the decorating…until now.

February has a way of turning our thoughts to romance and dates and the like. While it's wonderful to spend time one-on-one with your siginifcant other, if you're a parent, there's someone else in your life who could benefit from some alone time with you: your kiddos.

The other day, I decided to make a kid-friendly meal that was healthy, fun and low-cost. (Yes, no kids yet, but with one on the way, it's time to think up some great kid-friendly recipes!).

Since kids love chicken tenders and cheese sticks, I thought that combining the two would be a surefire family-friendly meal perfect for everyone once baby makes three. And they were a hit with my husband, a man with "kid taste," so I thought I'd share the recipe here.

Chicken Cheese Sticks

I have to tell you, even though my girls are only in kindergarten, I am coming to love the school uniform. So far, it has been time-saving and even decision-saving to have that kind of a boundary on what my girls can put on before heading to class. Though school uniforms vary greatly from school to school, families can still outfit their kids in those nifty polos and khakis without feeling like they're paying another full tuition. Here are some tips to get you started on saving moolah on school uniforms.

A Uniform Exchange

If you would've asked the pre-kid me where my offspring would attend school, I wouldn't have hesitated to say, "Well, the public school. Where else?" Fast forward to five years later. My twins, having successfully completed two years of preschool, were ready to go to kindergarten, even if the hubby and I were not. After discussion and visiting some local schools near the tail-end of our daughters' pre-k career, we decided to send our girls to a private school. If you knew our budget and income, you'd probably be snickering by now and wondering how we could manage that.

A great Dane named Hamlet once lamented that age old question: "To work, or not to work?" Oh, wait, that's not exactly how it went. Um, anyway, all fuzzy college lit aside, today we're giving allowances a bit more attention. Back in March, I touched on allowances when talking about savings and kids. Today, we're looking at the pros and cons of different allowance strategies.

Two Schools of Thought

In the past, we have written posts about financial mistakes. These articles are helpful; they allow those of us on the brink of a financially disastrous decision the opportunity to foresee the future, based on the problems encountered by others. However, these stories really don’t lay out what to do in an ideal life journey through finances.

Adam, my neighbors' eight-year old boy, likes to save money. In fact, he likes to save money so much that I often see him singing in his yard (and dancing!) about all the cash his parents are saving. From drying laundry on the clothesline to washing the dog in the backyard, any small feat of household savings sends him into a Broadway-esque performance.