Saver or Spender? - PASS week seven

My fourteen-year-old, Savannah has always been a saver. She saves all her money from birthday presents and allowance. She doesn't usually save for anything in particular; she just kind of tucks it away for future use. When a movie comes out that she really wants to see, she knows she'll have the money to buy a ticket, or when she sees a shirt she wants to buy, she knows she'll have the cash to purchase it because she doesn't spend frivolously on everything that comes her way.

My twelve-year-old, Jackson, on the other hand, well, let's just say that money burns a hole in his pocket. If he's got a dollar, he's got to find something to spend it on. Immediately! It doesn't matter what it is; he's just got to spend that money.

If being a mom of six has taught me one thing, it's that all kids (and adults too) are different. Like most folks tend to be either night or morning people, I think most individuals are also programmed to be savers or spenders. However, even spenders can learn how to save.

Jackson is slowly learning how to save for things that he wants. It goes against his nature, but he's learning that saving can be rewarding. He recently saved up for an iPod. It took him a year to save enough, but he managed. What can help your teens (and even younger kids) save is a chart. When charities do fundraisers, they set their goals and draw a chart that they color in as their funds get higher and higher. It's nice to have that visual reminder of how far you've come and how much farther you have to go in order to reach your savings goal. My teens like going online and seeing how much they're accumulating on their PASS cards. It's a convenient way to keep track and have that visual reminder of how much is being saved.

As an adult, I don't save for particular things I want so much as I save for a "rainy day." You just never know when your car's going to break down, your furnace is going to go out, or your washing machine is going to start hopping across the floor, spewing suds everywhere. It's nice to have that little cushion of money tucked away for those unexpected expenses that have a way of surfacing.

How do you encourage your teens to save? What ideas do you use to make saving money a little less painful? What kinds of things do your teens save up to buy? Join in the discussion here!

I am working with American Express on this project. As always, I'm writing my honest accounts and opinions.

photo from alancleaver_2000's Flickr stream

Decorative Picture Pillow with Canon

I was given a Canon PIXMA MG6120 printer (that’s a mouthful. I prefer to simply call it “awesome”) to try out. It’s a very cool, sleek-looking printer, and it’s wireless which is totally awesome because the space under my desk already looks like a huge tangle of snakes. Who needs any more cables and wires, right?

One of the coolest things about this printer is how it works with Canon PowerShot or EOS cameras. It has Full HD Movie Print software which enables you to easily freeze the perfect frame of video footage and print a picture from it. Have you ever watched a home movie and thought, Man, I wish I had a photo of this? I’m forever juggling my video camera and still camera, trying to get both the perfect pictures and great video of the kids. This printer is very cool for just this reason. Although the Canon PowerShot will never replace my SLR camera, it is kinda cool because it’s so tiny. It’s the size of a cell phone so I keep it in my purse all the time, just in case one of the kids does something like shove a carrot up his nose and I must capture it on film.

This printer is user-friendly and super-easy to use. It takes individual ink cartridges which saves you money because you only have to replace the individual color cartridge that’s empty instead of a whole, big one. And not only can you print great, clear, full-color photos with this printer, but you can use it for a variety of cool craft projects. I lack the Martha Stewart gene so I’m incapable of making anything crafty, but I received a pillow with a picture of my kids on it, printed with the Canon PIXMA MG6120 printer. If you have the ability to do something crafty, you must watch this video with the instructions! These would make awesome Christmas presents!

Christmas Spending - PASS week six

I just realized that Christmas is like a month away! We have just over a month to get ready! Eek! Thinking about Christmas shopping got me wondering how you handle this with your teens? Are your teens responsible for buying gifts for family members? Do you give them money to use? Do they use their own money? Do you exchange gifts with multiple family members or do you draw names and have only one person to buy for?

In years past, I've done all the shopping for everyone. This year, being a newly single mom to six kids in this economy, things are going to be different. This year, I'm stressing the meaning of the season. We're talking about the joy of spending time with family. We're remembering that the thought behind the gift is what is important.

I've enlisted my teens to help me come up with gift ideas for our family and friends that won't cost a lot of money and will be fun to put together. I've also asked my teens to help talk the little kids out of their I NEED Everything I See on TV attitudes. And finally, I keeping making sure that everyone in my family remembers those less fortunate. We recently got together with friends and packed shoeboxes full of gifts for Operation Christmas Child. The kids had fun picking out toys and items that will benefit children who have nothing. And hopefully, the lesson that we don't need to spend tons of money that we don't have in order to have a nice Christmas sunk in.

What do you do to keep holiday spending in check? How do you install this in your teens? Share your thoughts here!

I am working with American Express on this project. As always, I'm writing my honest accounts and opinions.

photo from alancleaver_2000's photostream

Peapod Delivers!

I love Chicago. I love everything about this city. Except the weather. I hate the weather. I loathe it. I detest it. And the thing I hate most about the weather is driving to the grocery store in it. Not only does it suck to drive in snow, but pushing a cart through a slushy parking lot, loading grocery bags into my van while my fingers are numb and then UNloading everything when I get home and trudging slush into my house with every trip from my van is the worst. Since I have six kids and, for some reason, they think they need to eat every day, I have a lot of groceries and have to make a lot of trips from the car to the house. By the time I’m done, my snot is frozen, my hands are numb, and I can’t feel the lower half of my body.




Enter Peapod. With Peapod, I do my grocery shopping online in my nice, warm house. It is SO easy! And after your first order, it’s even easier because your list is saved online and you can use that basic list of items you frequently buy and just add and subtract anything you want to change. If you have any special needs, you can shop from a narrowed down list of products, for example, a gluten-free list, a peanut-free list, or a Weight Watchers list. It’s really awesome!



And after you’ve searched through Peapod’s sales and you’ve compiled your shopping order, you select the day and time frame in which you want your items delivered. Then voila, like magic, the guy shows up at your door with everything neatly bagged, like items put together, ice cream still frozen solid, bread unsquished, produce fresh as can be. All you have to do is open the door so the delivery person can set your bags on the table for you, and then put the food away. (Unless you’re like me and your kids eat it before you can even unbag it.)



I had the opportunity to tour the facility with Tony Stark. Tony is the authority on produce! This guy knows his stuff. In fact, he explained to us why Peapod has several separate refrigerated sections, each with their own climate control, for the fresh produce alone. People are afraid to let someone else pick out their produce for them. They feel the need to look at, smell, and squish each piece of fruit and they think that they’ll end up with brown, mushy bananas if they let someone else pick out their produce for them. Wrong! I’ve ordered from Peapod many times and I’ve always gotten better produce than what I find at my local grocery stores. ALWAYS!



Peapod has many of their own foods too. I had the chance to try their guacamole (among other things) and ohmygosh, it was the best guacamole I’ve ever had. YUM!



And the best part, of course, is that you never have to set foot out in the cold, snowy, nastiness that is Chicago in the winter. It all comes to you! Want to give Peapod a try? Now you can save $5 when you spend $20 on Thanksgiving Staples. Just in time for Thanksgiving you can stock up on the random things you might need - like spices, herbs, broth and sides. Save $5 when you spend $20 on select Thanksgiving staples.



All you have to do is:
Add $20 in select items to your cart
Choose the delivery day and time that works for you
Enter PPFAN28 when you check out.



This offer only lasts until 11/21, can only be used once per order and cannot be combined with any other offers. You have nothing to lose! Try them and you’ll be hooked. You’ll wonder why you waited so long to give Peapod a shot and you won’t want to go back to shopping the old fashioned way.

If I'd Only Known - PASS week five

"If I'd only known then, what I know now." Have you ever said these words? Is there something you know now that you wish you had learned when you were a teen? I wish I had learned the importance of establishing credit. That wasn't something that even crossed my mind as a teen. Even as a young adult, I didn't consider its importance. When I got divorced, however, I found myself in a tough position. I couldn't even switch the cable bill to my name because I didn't have any credit. I had to start from ground zero. I applied for and received a credit card. I started using it for gas. Every time I have to fill up my van, I use this card. Then, when I get my statement at the end of the month, I pay the entire balance with the money I have in my budget for gas. A friend of mine whose husband suddenly died, found herself in a similar position because everything was either in her husband's name or both of their names, jointly.

Now, I'm not saying that no one ever taught me about establishing credit or setting up a budget. My parents probably tried to teach me, but the lesson never sunk in. And now, here I am in my forties, just trying to establish a little credit.

I'm teaching my teens the importance of credit as well. Not that I want them to have a credit card now, but it's not too early to start preparing them. I tell them that they need to have wise spending habits if they want to buy a house in the future. Banks won't loan them money for a house if they overspend and don't pay their bills in a timely manner. And even though my teens are not considering buying a house or even getting a credit card at this point in their lives, they can certainly establish wise spending habits now.

I am working with American Express on this project. As always, I'm writing my honest accounts and opinions.

Breakfast Traditions

This is sponsored content by BlogHer and Kelloggs.

Do you have any morning rituals? I remember, as a kid, my mom would wake me and my sister up early on New Year's Day. She'd have the TV trays set up in the family where we'd get to eat the breakfast she'd prepared while we watched the parades on TV. It was a real treat until I was old enough to realize that getting up early was just wrong, even I was allowed to eat in the family room while watching TV.

Nowadays, my kids like to make me breakfast in bed for Mother's Day. I remember one year in particular when they made me pancakes despite the fact that we were out of eggs. The pancakes were, ummm, interesting. That was the same year the older kids gave the baby breakfast while I stayed in bed. They fed him a can of pineapple. A whole can. As you can imagine, his poor little butt burst into flames every time he pooped for the next week. Ahhh, good times, good times.

Do you have any breakfast traditions? If so, what are they? Leave me a comment here to be entered for a chance to win a $100 Visa gift card from Kellogg's and BlogHer!


For a second entry, you can:

· Tweet about this post with a link to it (and put your tweet URL in a separate comment below)

· Blog about this post with a link to it (and put your blog post URL in a separate comment below)

· Sweepstakes ends 5 PM EST on November 1, 2010.

Winners will be selected via random draw
You have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
For more official rules, go HERE.

And for TWENTY-THREE more chances to win, check out the other bloggers at the BlogHer.com Kellogg exclusive offers page!

Mom’s Breakfast Club was started to help educate moms and families about kids’ cereal and share the scoop on their nutritional benefits and ingredients. To learn more about the program, visit http://www.loveyourcereal.com/.

photo from ciccioetneo's Flickr stream

Halloween Fun

This is a compensated review by BlogHer and Pop-Tarts.

I love making my kids' Halloween costumes. I don't sew, but I'm pretty good with duct tape and a hot glue gun. Actually, come to think of it, I'm not all that good with a hot glue gun as I always seem to burn my fingers when I use one. Anyway, I love coming up with creative ideas for costumes. Here are a few I've made in past years...

The Whack-a-Mole costume I made for Austin a few years ago


The Marge Simpson costume I made for Savannah a few years ago


Here's a young Jackson, dressed as Jimmy Neutron.


I think it's fun coming up with creative ideas for costumes. It sure beats the kind I had as a kid. You know, the plastic costumes that tied in the back and the hard, molded plastic masks with the little rubber bands of death that would always snap you in the face. These masks had those little slits in them for the mouth and we'd stick out tongues out and cut them on the sides of the hard plastic. Ahhh yeah, good times, good times.


This year? You want to know what my kids are going to be this year? Well, I don't have all the pieces of their costumes in place quite yet, but I'll give you a hint. The kids will probably build a rocket, or fight a mummy, or climb up the Eiffel Tower. Maybe they'll discover something that doesn't exist, or give a monkey a shower...

What are you or your kids dressing up like this Halloween? Share it here for a chance to win a $100 Visa gift card from BlogHer!

No duplicate comments
Blog about it and include a link in the comments here for a second chance.
Tweet about it and include a link in the comments here for another chance.
This giveaway is open to U.S. residents age 18 or over.
Winners will be selected via random draw, and will notified by e-mail.
You have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
For more official rules, go HERE.

And for NINE more chances to win, check out the other bloggers at the BlogHer.com exclusive offers page !

For more information, go to the official Pop-Tarts site HERE!

Winner of Legoland Tickets

The random winner of the Legoland tickets is -

17Celestial said...
OMG I would LOVE these tickets!! My kids have been begging me to go there, but it never seems to be in our budget. We drive past there every weekend and every weekend they ask when we are going :) This would make them SO happy to be able to go...FINALLY!!! I have 3 kids and myself so 4 would be absolutely p-e-r-f-e-c-t.

Congratulations! You have 48 hours to email me at mom2my6pack@aol.com with your shipping information. :)

Keeping Track - PASS week four

When I let my teens get Facebook accounts, I told them up-front that they had to add me as a friend. That was the deal. It’s not that I have this burning need to invade their privacy, but I wanted to monitor their online activity. As teens, I think my kids are entitled to a little freedom, but that freedom comes with the responsibility to use it wisely.

That’s why I like PASS from American Express. It gives my teens a little freedom. They don’t have to ask me for money any time they want or need something. It also puts the responsibility of using the card wisely in their hands. They have X amount of money to last a month. They can spend it on what they like, but if they run out before their next allowance date, that is their problem, not mine. Plus (and this is the best part) it lets me check up on them. I can login as the parent and see their spending activity online. If I notice what I would consider poor spending habits, I can discuss this with them, tell them my concerns, and listen to their reasons for sending money the way they are.

With PASS, I also control how much money they have to spend at any given time. I’m not going to give them more money than they can manage. They get to reap the benefits of learning to manage their money without the threat of getting into serious financial difficulties.

In checking my teens’ accounts tonight, I can see that they both have a nice size balance on their cards. My son has off-campus privileges this year and has used his card to go out to lunch twice in the last couple months. My daughter used hers to buy a snack and a shirt while on a shopping trip to the mall with a friend. Mostly, they’re saving their money right now. And that’s okay by me!

How do you monitor your teen's spending habits? DO you monitor them or do you think that's an invasion of their privacy? Join in the discussion by leaving me a comment here.

For more information about PASS, the prepaid reloadable card for teens from American Express, go HERE.

I am working with American Express on this project. As always, I'm writing my honest accounts and opinions.

Bowl of Goodness

This is sponsored content by BlogHer and Kelloggs.

What's your favorite meal in a bowl? I would say cookies, but I guess cookies aren't typically served in a bowl, huh? I guess my favorite is chicken and dumplings. Mmmmm, just looking at that picture makes me want some. I know what's for dinner tomorrow! Especially in the cold winter months, I love chili, chicken soup, beef stew, Italian wedding soup, lentil stew, gumbo, and oatmeal. Anything warm and filling is good on a chilly day. (Although I could easily move to California and eat salads year round. Just sayin'.)

I used to grab a bowl of ice cream a lot of evenings, but a couple years ago, I replaced the ice cream with cereal. It satisfies my craving for something sweet, yet instead of giving me a ton of fat and calories I don't need, it gives me vitamins, minerals and fiber that I do need. And now that I have diverticulosis, I've been pretty diligent about getting at least twenty-five grams of fiber every day.

So, what's your favorite meal in a bowl? Leave me a comment here to be entered into the drawing for $100 Visa gift card from Kellogg's and BlogHer!

No duplicate comments
Blog about it and include a link in the comments here for a second chance.
Tweet about it and include a link in the comments here for another chance.
This giveaway is open to U.S. residents age 18 or over.
Winners will be selected via random draw, and will notified by e-mail.
You have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
For more official rules, go HERE.

And for TWENTY-THREE more chances to win, check out the other bloggers at the BlogHer.com Kellogg exclusive offers page!

Mom’s Breakfast Club was started to help educate moms and families about kids’ cereal and share the scoop on their nutritional benefits and ingredients. To learn more about the program, visit http://www.loveyourcereal.com/.

photo from jordanmit09's Flickr stream

Pop-Tarts Pumpkin Pie

This is a compensated review by BlogHer and Pop-Tarts.

The kids and I got to play with our food to create a Pop-Tarts recipe. The kids' idea was to take a Choc-O-Lantern Pop-Tart, cover it with orange frosting, and then top it with another Pop-Tart which has been cut into a Jack-o-lantern shape. Simple, fun, cute, and festive, no? But did I listen to them? Nope. I had a better idea. And by better, I mean much more complicated. (Sometimes, I get this idea I'm a Food Network star. I'm not.)



My idea was to use these limited edition Pop-Tarts to create a chocolate fudge crusted Pop-Tarts Pumpkin Pie. We crumbled 6 Pop-Tarts into a bowl.


Then we added half a stick of melted butter to the crumbled Pop-Tarts. We mixed it well.


Then we pressed the chocolate fudge Pop-Tarts crust into a 9 inch pie plate.


The kids helped me to mix the pumpkin pie filling.


We poured the pie filling into the Pop-Tarts crust and popped the whole thing into the oven. Smell that? Mmmmmmm!


The finished product! Chocolatey Pop-Tarts pumkin pie!


What's your favorite Halloween/fall recipe? Share it here for a chance to win a $100 Visa gift card from BlogHer!

No duplicate comments
Blog about it and include a link in the comments here for a second chance.
Tweet about it and include a link in the comments here for another chance.
This giveaway is open to U.S. residents age 18 or over.
Winners will be selected via random draw, and will notified by e-mail.
You have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
For more official rules, go HERE.

And for NINE more chances to win, check out the other bloggers at the BlogHer.com exclusive offers page !

For more information about Pop-Tarts, go to the official Pop-Tarts site HERE!

Legoland!

The kids and I were invited to check out Legoland Discovery Center outside Chicago. I’ve driven past this place many times and every time, I’ve thought to myself, I should take my kids here. But I’d never gotten around to actually doing it. So, for the first time since the place opened, the kids and I paid a visit to Legoland.
My youngest four, ages 4-12 loved it! My teens weren’t quite as impressed although they did admit that it looked like a fun place to work. From the minute you walk in Legoland Discovery Center, you’ll be impressed. Actually, scratch that, even before you walk in the place, you’ll be impressed! There’s a giant giraffe posted at the entrance that welcomes you inside. Once inside, you’ll see Einstein and a guard made of Legos who has a little um, how to put this delicately…he has a little flatulence problem. The kids find this absolutely HILARIOUS!





Walk a little farther and you’ll be amazed at a Lego replica of Chicago complete with Buckingham fountain, the SEARS (not Willis) Tower, and Navy Pier. (Try to find two R2D2s, a Lego Batman, and a bank robber amid the skyscrapers.)



When you’re done admiring mini-Chicago, take a walk in the jungle. You’ll see all sorts of animals (and Indiana Jones!) It’s impressive!





You can get your picture taken with Lego creations, go for a ride on a dragon through a castle filled with Lego creations, build your own model in a Lego workshop, find out how Legos are made in the factory tour, see the fun Clutch Powers 4D movie, go for a whirl on the Technicycle, and take a break for some lunch while the kiddos play with buckets of Legos, race their vehicle creations down ramps, and run around the play area.











Legoland does birthday parties too! The best part about having your birthday party at Legoland is - no kids running around like maniacs all over your house, no shopping for supplies, and no clean-up!



The folks at Legoland gave me 4 tickets to give away on my blog. Legoland Discovery Center is located just outside Chicago in Schaumburg. If you're a local reader, leave me a comment here and I'll choose a random winner on Friday, October 22. Good luck!

I was given free admission for me and my kids to check out Legoland.

Mobile Meanness

This is sponsored content from BlogHer and LG Text Ed

Each comment left on this post benefits DoSomething.org with a $0.50 donation!

I was watching TV when my phone buzzed, signaling a text message.

Can u drive me to the mall plz?

The text was from my teenage daughter. My daughter who was sitting five feet away from me. To say the way we communicate has changed since I was a kid is a huge understatement. Yes, the amount of technology at our (and more importantly, at our children's) fingertips can be overwhelming and scary. Stories of teens committing suicide, or being beaten over mean texts they’ve received flash across the news. It’s enough to make parents think twice about letting their sons and daughters have cell phones at all.

I don’t personally think that taking phones away from kids is the answer. But giving your teen a phone and turning them loose with no supervision isn’t a good idea either. Texting can be a great communication tool. Texting lets parents and their children stay in touch, it’s a convenient way to ask your spouse to pick up a gallon of milk on his way home from work, and it helps you to avoid hour-long conversations with that one long-winded friend everyone seems to have.

But, as with anything good, there’s a bad side too. The way to avoid the negative aspects of texting is by communicating with your teens about what’s appropriate and acceptable and what isn’t. It’s your job to talk to your teens about being mean to others through texting. There have always been bullies; this is nothing new, but texting gives the bullies a new, more anonymous, way of ganging up on others. Make sure your kids know that they should never text anything that they wouldn’t say to someone’s face. I tell my kids that if they’d be embarrassed if I saw a text they sent, then they probably shouldn’t be sending it. Likewise, if they’re ever on the receiving end of mean texts, they need to confront the sender face to face. Oftentimes, texts can be misunderstood and if there’s ever a problem, it’s best to talk about it in person to avoid further miscommunication.

Texting can be a great way of communicating if you keep a few things in mind. Explain what’s expected of your teens, set boundaries, discuss stories in the news of kids who have been the victims of bullies, and repeat your talks about treating others with respect in all areas of communication. Oh yeah, and maybe get a text to English dictionary so you have a clue what your kids are talking about when they write "MMK" or "@TEOTD".

Have your kids experienced "Mobile Meaness"? What have you done to help them respond if they experience it? Each comment left on this post benefits DoSomething.org with a $0.50 donation!

Can't Live Without It

This is sponsored content by BlogHer and Kelloggs.

There are some foods I make for dinner that I know my kids will always eat. Macaroni & cheese, hamburgers, spaghetti, tacos, and chicken & dumplings are staples in this house. Then there are those hit-or-miss meals... "But you guys ate the lasagna when I made it last month and you loved it!" "What? Since when do you hate green beans?" "What are you talking about? You like BBQ pork!" Of course, none of this applies to my 4-year-old Brooklyn who doesn't consume anything but peanut butter, mac & cheese, cereal, and chocolate milk. Oh yeah, and candy! Can't forgot that important food group. :::shaking head:::

The same thing happens at breakfast. Some days, my kids like eggs. Other days, notsomuch. Some days, yogurt is good. Others, no way. But I know that cereal is one choice they'll never turn down. Cereal and granola bars are my go-to food choices for breakfast because I know my kids will eat it. Every time. The younger kids like their cereal in these little plastic bowls with straws attached to them. They can drink the milk when they've finished the cereal that way.

My personal go-to food for breakfast is coffee. Actually, it's more like cream and sugar with a little coffee flavoring, but it still works. What's your one go-to breakfast item that you and/or your kids can't live without. For a chance at a $100 Visa gift card, leave me a comment here and let me know what breakfast item you can't live without. Is it a special coffee mug? Fruit? A certain cereal?

No duplicate comments
Blog about it and include a link in the comments here for a second chance.
Tweet about it and include a link in the comments here for another chance.
This giveaway is open to U.S. residents age 18 or over.
Winners will be selected via random draw, and will notified by e-mail.
You have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
For more official rules, go HERE.

And for TWENTY-THREE more chances to win, check out the other bloggers at the BlogHer.com Kellogg exclusive offers page!

Mom’s Breakfast Club was started to help educate moms and families about kids’ cereal and share the scoop on their nutritional benefits and ingredients. To learn more about the program, visit http://www.loveyourcereal.com/.