Mama Always Said

Wearing Costumes to Make an Occasion a Special One

You can make an occasion special by wearing costumes. Many children enjoy an event that involves costumes. They love to dress up for birthday parties that have a theme. Whether it is a pirate party or a princess party, you are sure to see a lot of kids with smiling faces running around and having a good time all dressed up.

That is probably why so many children also love Halloween. They love to dress up and imagine that they are someone or something else. They have a lot of fun sharing their costumes with others. Because it can make an occasion special, you want to keep in mind the desires of your child when you buy a Halloween costume.

Costumes can even make family vacations more special. If you are planning a trip to Disneyland, your child may want to dress up as a character from his or her favorite Disney movie. If you take a trip to the historic stockyards in Fort Worth, TX, your child might want to dress up as a cowboy or cowgirl to mark the occasion.

No matter how much money you spend on a costume, kids are not going to have a good time if they are forced to wear something that they do not like. Being sensitive to your child’s dreams, even for a costume, can help you develop an even closer relationship with him or her.

A lot of children have fond memories of the events for which they dressed up in costumes. It is something that people of all ages can and do enjoy. If you love to dress up, then you understand the desire that your children have, too.

Filed Under: Consumer

Parents’ Guide for Emergency Spending

Having an emergency fund is one of the best ways you can protect the financial needs of your family. In life things happen such as one parent becoming disabled and unable to work which can cut the family’s income significantly. One or both parents can also suffer a job loss, so having an emergency fund is the perfect way to cover pressing expenses.

The amount saved for an emergency fund will vary from family to family. When setting up your fund, you should put away money each week after you spend money on necessities such as bills, youth entertainment and more. You can start saving small amounts each week ($25) then gradually add on to your savings. This is also a great way to teach you how to budget your money and could result in reducing family spending for activities such as shopping or dining out. Over time, you’ll find that you have saved a good little “nest egg” that can get you through a tough financial situation.

If you have not yet begun your emergency fund and you need money right away for milestone purchases such as expenses for your sister’s wedding, you don’t have to reach into your family’s budget. Use a payday advance card that can supply you with money the next day after your application is approved.

Another tip that parents can use when establishing an emergency fund is rather than keeping the money hidden someplace around the house, put it into something like a credit union or your local bank. This lessens the temptation you may have to use the money on frivolous spending.

Filed Under: Consumer Tagged With: Emergency, Family, Payday loan

3 Fun Ways to Celebrate the Holidays with Family

Holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving are great for getting the family together. Family members you haven’t seen for a long time come together and have a good time. Here are three ways to celebrate the holidays with the family and maybe even make that cherished time a little better.

Keep the Family Together

Christmas mornings often seem to start with the frenzied unwrapping of presents followed by people going their separate ways to enjoy their gifts until called back together for a meal. Instead, try opening presents later in the day after spending time together. Eat together, play games, do whatever your family enjoys doing, then open gifts in the late afternoon. Stretch the day out and enjoy the time.

Make It Special

Do something different. Get someone into a Santa costume to hand out small gifts to the kids. Dress up some kids or babies as Santa’s little helpers or reindeer. Baby costumes aren’t expensive and they’re cute. Maybe have a theme so people can dress up and wear something different. This theme can change every year depending on who hosts.

Take Pictures

Never celebrate a holiday with the family from behind a camera. But to be sure that the day is remembered as best it can be, take a lot of pictures. Put the pictures into a holiday album that can be pulled out on the following year and enjoyed.

Celebrating the holidays with family is great. Unfortunately, the holidays can be stressful for some members of the family. Include these members in the festivities; have fun. Make them a part of everything and, hopefully, a good time will be had by all.

Filed Under: Milestone Purchases, Parenting Tagged With: Christmas, Christmas music, Santa Claus

Getting the Gift for the Person Who has Everything

Getting the right gift can be a very stressful situation. You want to get a gift that really makes them happy. You’ve been searching endlessly and you keep running into the same problem. The person you are buying for has everything. Now, to keep it in perspective they may not have everything but they have enough that either you can’t afford to get them anything or everything will be a retread of what you have already gotten them. Here are some tips on that.

The first, and most important tip, is to get them something fun. Give them an experience. There are a lot of things that people will buy for themselves but they never think to get them an experience. This doesn’t have to be expensive but getting them a class on a fun hobby they have or getting them tickets to a show they would never buy tickets for themselves is a great way to start. They will always remember that and they will always have you to thank for that.

Something to get them is something that will give back. Everyone talks about giving back to the community but there are very few people that actually do. You can get them an opportunity to give back to the rest of the community. It will mean a lot to them and it could be something that ends up changing their life. Either way there is always something to get someone and it will really mean a lot to them.

Filed Under: Consumer, Special Occasions Tagged With: Gift, Shopping, Tickets

The First Car

Image by donandcarol via Flickr

As a young person who has just been given the freedom to drive there is the want to not have to be tied down to the parents automobile. It’s the most attractive option for the teen and one that you will inevitably hear about from them until there is a resolution to the matter. Now, you understand that owning a car is a huge responsibility but owning a car is one that the teen has to be ready for. Here is who you run through that situation.

The first is you cannot let a teen buy a car without at least six months car payments saved up in addition to the down payment. They must also have the year of car insurance. This will take them forever to save up for but if they are willing to go to that length to get a car then they might be ok to have one. You just don’t need an irresponsible teen who is going to take the car and run it into the ground. It’s too big of an investment for that.

The second thing you need to remember is that the best thing your teen can do for their own bottom line is to pay for the car outright. Of course that is something that isn’t always the convenient thing to do, but if they can do it then they will save a large amount of money on interest dollars that will prolong the time it takes for them to pay off the car.

Filed Under: Consumer, Milestone Purchases Tagged With: Automobile, Financial Services, Vehicle insurance

The First Apartment

Image by Beedle Um Bum via Flickr

So you are thinking about moving out of your parents place and into your own for the first time ever. Well, you should be congratulated on a very cool experience and a very big step. At the end of the day there is very little that is more exciting than finding out that you have your own independence. However, moving out and being in the right time in your life to move out are two very different things. The truth of the matter is that there are some things you should do to prepare for this.

The first thing you need to do is make sure that you have enough for not only the first and last months rent but also for the first three months rent and utilities. Does this seem excessive? Yes, it does, but it’s anything but. You have to make sure that if something goes wrong you have at least a little cushion to pay your bills until you get back on track. So many people buy their first apartment and then they don’t have the money or the resources to keep up with it when they encounter a hiccup. So make sure that you have the cushion if things begin to get tight.

The next thing you need is you need a roommate to help you with the cost. I’d recommend only picking someone you know very well and can trust. The last thing you want to do is get someone who you don’t really trust. These are just the basics of owning your own apartment.

Filed Under: Milestone Purchases, Parenting Tagged With: Apartment, Home, Roommate