Sunday, March 29, 2009

Financial Jobs Available

In this tough economy, I figured I would throw this out. Please be forewarned, THIS IS NOT A WORK AT HOME OPPORTUNITY! While most of my posts are centered at the stay at home Mom, this one is different. This is directed at those mom's that have to work outside the home to make ends meet, or at Father's trying to find a job in these tough times.

Financial jobs, investment banker jobs and accounting jobs can easily be found at www.financialjobbank.com. If your specialty is in the financial industry, this is a website dedicated to helping you find a job in this economy. Check it out and the Best of Luck to you!

Online Shopping: Buy.com

I love Buy.com. It is so simple, it's so easy and it's SO inexpensive! They have tons of wonderful products on Sale and only a handful of times, have I not been able to find what I was looking for, but then, I didn't really expect them to have accessories for my kids swing set anyway!

I love their selection of name brand kitchen appliances and their prices usually can beat Walmart, Kmart or Target. They have a HUGE selection of electronics and just about everything else you can imagine! But the best part is, I have never seen them be out of stock on anything! Their shipping is fast and reliable and I have been very happy with every transaction I have completed with them.

Making Your Money Stretch

With the economy in a downward spiral and no blue sky in site, we, as mothers, are having to stretch every dollar farther than ever before. Every time you seem to get everything in order, the washing machine breaks or the bearings go out in your van. Repairs are costly and you find yourself trying to determine if you are going to make the repairs or buy food.

For most people, that is not an easy situation. But in Utah, a big thing is food storage. It is part of an LDS prophesy, that there will come a time that God will destroy all crops from the earth just before the resurrection. The LDS have been warned to be faithful and keep one years supply of food on hand.

While this is great in a disaster, it is also a good rule of thumb for anyone and everyone. Religious or not. Whether you believe that the earth will be void of all food or not, keeping a 1 year supply of food on hand is a smart idea. If you are laid off from work, injured and not able to work or just short on cash one month, what ever the situation, you will not have to worry about food. You will have enough food to sustain you for a full year and you can focus on other pressing issues, like car payments and mortgages.

So here is my "Making Your Money Stretch" tip for the day....

LDS or not, religious or not, make a wise decision for your family, protect them from whatever the future might hold and make sure that they will always be fed. Get a minimum of 1 years worth of food and keep it stored in your home at all times. Use it when you need it and cycle through it regularly when you don't. It will lighten up the stress on any economic hardtime you find yourself facing.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Save Some Green

Children, although they are darling little creatures, are also very, very expensive. And for those of you with the cute little pink and snugly models, take it from a parent of a pre-teen.... Really, it can and WILL get more expensive! You think diapers and powdered gold, whoops, I mean Formula are expensive, just wait! Soon will come, football ($500 per year easily), Dance (easily $1000 per year), Ice skating, soccer, girl and boy scouts, camps, school and more. Much much more! Then come the holidays where gone are the days where a simple $3 toy or an empty egg carton for that matter will suffice! Nope, now we are getting asked for things like cellphones, ipods and Nintendo Wii's! Ouch!

So, for those of you not privileged enough to raise a child with Donald Trumps income, here are come tips that have made my dollar stretch to it's absolute breaking point!

1. Shop the sales. I know that sounds like the same old thing, but I am very serious! I have three girls that are totally into Hannah Montana and her clothes and accessories, bedding and bikes are priced out of this world! I have found that they are just as happy when I buy a shirt for $30 as when I buy it on sale for $10. And my son, he has to have the most expensive, name brand shoes. $100 minimum! Unless I can find them on sale. He doesn't care what they cost, just that they make him look cool at school. (Which at this age is a very important thing for children)

2. Use coupons and promotion codes. There are many, many websites out there that offer coupons and promotion codes. www.promotioncodes.com for starters offers promotion codes for many of the major online retailers. And if you are in Utah www.grocerysmarts.com does all the work for you matching up store sale ads with manufactures coupons, resulting in a boat load of savings! I actually picked up 12 boxes of Kellogg cereal last Friday for $0.50 per box!!! And alot of items end up being free with your coupons!

3. E-Bay it! If you are looking for a hard to find or terribly overpriced item, it's likely that you can find it on ebay and at a reasonable price. I have used ebay for years and have only had one problem with a transaction and they cleared it up, faulted the seller and returned my money to me promptly. Then went about dealing with the seller. Ebay is a wonderful and safe place to shop and find great deals!

4. Shop the off season. Now is not the time to run out and buy your childrens summer wardrobe! That was last fall. Now is the perfect time to pick up their school clothes for next school year. Now is when the stores introduce their new lines of summer fashions and deeply discount those fall and winter clothes that have been hanging around since last March. Now is the perfect time to outfit your children in winter coats and snowboots, sweaters and long sleeved shirts. Pick up a cute summer dress while your shopping, but leave the majority of the summer clothes shopping for August or September!

Monday, March 16, 2009

Can You Spot The Problem?

I just wanted to see how many people can spot the problem with this and how many would just sweep it under the area rugs in their brains and get excited that they are getting a great deal? I am really hoping that we have not gotten so jaded to things like this that we really do even notice it anymore.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Do You Have a Good Yeast Doughnut Recipe?

I need help. I need to find a good yeast doughnut recipe. My husband and children love doughnuts, cake or yeast. I have found a fantastic cake doughnut recipe but as of yet, I have not found a good yeast doughnut recipe. I am looking for a recipe that is easy, quick and great tasting. I know they do not always go together, but the closer I can come the better.

So here's the deal. If you are willing to comment with your best recipes, I will try them all and judge them. For the best recipe I will send you a prize pack of cooking gizmo's worth $15. Please be sure to include your recipe and your web address or e-mail so I can contact you if you win.

I will accept entries until the end of March 2009. Then I will try each recipe and announce the winner on or about April 17th, 2009.

*I retain the right to publish any recipes sent during this contest and use the recipes in any way I see fit, with right's going to the original creator. Please be sure to give credit where credit is due.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Legit Work at Home Opportunity

I have a friend that has been hired by a company called Cloud10. They are a work from home, tele-commuting company with many different client options to work for. They will pay you minimum wage (I believe) throughout your sales training and program specific training. Then you would move onto your specific program where you can usually make $8 - $9 per hour working from the convenience and comfort of your own home.

One word of caution... If you want to work from home, you really, really have to want it! It is not easy to get your foot in the door. The hours are usually miserable to begin with and the training can be brutal. But once you have your foot in the door and have been on the job for 6 months to a year, that is when it starts to get easier, the hours get more flexible and the jobs gets easier.

Peace at Home

Love at Home is directly related to Peace at Home. Keeping the peace at home can be difficult but one thing that I have noticed is that the noise level in the house will directly affect the level of peace and comfort in the home. As the television get turned up louder or the radio gets louder, the children get louder, the pets get louder and then the parents get louder and the home becomes a place of Chaos rather than Peace.

Here are some ideas to lower the Chaos and increase the Peace:

1. Have designated areas. If your TV room is also the children's playroom, you have no choice but to turn up the tube to hear over the children's laughter. The result will be arguments over the noise level. Rectify this problem by making sure that the children have a place to play, laugh and giggle without having to worry about bothering Dad or Sis. And have the television room in a seperate area where the volume can be kept down without having to compete with happy children sounds.

2. Try to train your pets. Pets in homes make for happy memories, if they are well trained! Pets with behavior issues cause nothing but stress. Torn up furniture, constant barking and/or smelly messes are all things to send anyone running and pulling their hair out.

3. Put a damper on the sound. Noise is bad enough in a home with carpeting, but if you have wood or tile floors, you know how little sounds can be amplified many, many times. The easiest way to solve this problem is to add area rugs to warm the area and dampen the echoing noise.

4. Teach everyone to speak softly. If everyone learns to speak softly then the whole home will feel more comfortable and you will always have Peace at Home.