Add your own special touch to show love for your Mama with these verses for Mothers Day cards! Loving, funny, poetry…it’s all here!
When I was in second grade, my Sunday school teacher gave each child in her class a one dollar bill. She told us that we should use that money to go to the grocery store and choose some food for the poor.
It was a lesson in helping others.
When I got home, I told my Mom about the assignment. After that, she was on a mission!
By the time we got done shopping, I had a paper bag half filled with groceries for the price of a dollar.
Granted, this was the ’80s, so my dollar stretched further than it would today. But the truth is that my Mom knew how to pinch a penny. She’s one of the most frugal people I know.
This woman raised five kids on what would be considered a meager income…but we never knew the difference. While we didn’t get the fancy shoes and trips that some of our friends had, it was really a life lesson of need versus wants.
My Mom is a pretty amazing person. She has more energy than most people my own age!
She bends over backwards to help people whenever she can. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom!
Earlier this week, I took my 3 year old out to run errands. We decided to try a new park, which was so much fun! They have a climbing toy in the shape of a train, which my little guy just loved.
When we finally got home after a long day of running errands, I was ready for both of us to have some down time. But as I unloaded things from the van, I saw him topple head first out of the car and into our gravel driveway. Instead of relaxing, we spent a few hours in the emergency room.
Luckily, everything turned out just fine! He was happy to get a popsicle and watch some cartoons, and I was relieved when the doctor said he looked a lot worse than he actually was.
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The first time I ever saw the ocean was on my honeymoon. After the stress of planning a wedding and dealing with minute details for months, that was the most relaxing vacation I’d ever had.
We enjoyed it so much that we decided then and there that we’d be coming back within 5 years.
It was kind of a stretch for two kids in their early 20s with not much in the way of job prospects. But we made it work!
Five years and two kids later, we were back, thanks to some help from our vacation savings account.
Since then, we’ve tried to take a nice vacation like this every couple of years. A trip like this is a splurge for sure, especially with a family of seven. But with some careful savings, we make it work.
Do you give your kids gifts for Easter? I’ve heard of some parents that decide to gift an item they were going to have to buy the kids this time of year anyway (like boots or a folding chair for ball games). Then there are the parents that want to go all out for their kids no matter what we’re celebrating.
I’ve done both. On baby’s first Easter, he was 4 months old. But I decided he needed another fun toy to kick at during floor time. (Really? What was I thinking??)
These days I recognize the beauty in simplicity. I like the idea of keeping this holiday focused on Jesus. So even though some kids need new shoes and I’d like to get the little guy some toys for his sand box, I’m resisting. Besides, who wants to start the race where you buy something for one kid and then have to even it up for the rest of them?
You’re so tired of caving to every little temptation. But you don’t know how to develop self control! These 5 tips will change your thinking in no time
Have you heard of the marshmallow experiment?
The basic idea is that they put kids into a room and set a marshmallow in front of them.
Then, they promised the kids that if they let the marshmallow sit there for fifteen minutes without eating it, they would get a second marshmallow.
Some kids were able to stare at that delicious marshmallow for the full time and resist the temptation.
Others, of course, popped that delicious morsel right into their mouths, too caught up by their impulses to wait for the reward.
Well, those researchers followed those kids for 40 years to see how their ability to resist instant gratification played out in their lives.
As it turns out, that was the key to nearly everything. According to the study (here), the “resister” kids “achiev[ed] higher scholastic performance and cop[ed] better with frustration and stress.”
Who doesn’t want that for their kids???
But even if you are 100% certain your kids would have been in that group that grabbed the marshmallow as soon as the door closed, that’s ok.
There are things you can do as a parent to improve their self control skills.
This is the report I’ve been wanting to write about for 16 months. I almost can’t believe that the first step of our debt payoff journey is over. It felt like such an impossible task when we set this goal. But with a lot of determination (and accountability from my favorite readers ever), I can say that we’ve reached our goal!!
It’s funny how getting our largest credit card debt paid off has changed things around here. We aren’t out of debt yet. We have a couple more cards to go (both significantly smaller than what we owed the giant card).
Still, the free feeling of escaping that debt just makes me hungrier to do better with all of our money. It made me curious about other parts of our financial picture. And that gave me more motivation to get debt free.
Now that’s a circle I’d much rather be running than the old “never get out of debt” circle!
If you hate math but wish you could save more money, have I got the 52 Week Savings Plan Spreadsheet for you! Forget January 1st…start this any time!
Lately I’ve been on a mission to find ways to make it easier for people to save money. Not just on groceries and expenses. (Though that’s important, too.) But in a savings account, a piggy bank, or wherever you like to pile up money for a rainy day.
I don’t exactly pride myself on my math skills. I often joke that I married my Hubby so he could help with math homework. He’s the math and technology guy in the house.
That said, when it comes to my money, calculators are my best friend. Especially calculators that break down my big goals (like paying off credit card debt) into manageable chunks. If I pay this much money on this card and this much money on that card, when will I be debt free?
I'm Jamie, and I want to help you afford a beautiful life with your family. Learn more.
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I'm Jamie, and I want to help you afford a beautiful life with your family. 
