I learned at a pretty early age that if I wanted something, I’d have to work for the money to get it. In some ways, that seemed unfair. Other kids certainly didn’t have to scrimp and save like I did. Or at least that’s how it seemed.

A few years ago I found out that I wasn’t the only kid hiding in the racks at KMart lest a schoolmate catch a glimpse of me shopping there. While it sure seemed that other kids had it made, not everyone really did.

Looks can be deceiving. All the more so when it comes to personal finance. Remember the young man who thought that owning a home was the pinnacle of financial success? He was comparing what he had to what he thought others had.

I worry about how it will be when my kids enter the world of financial independence. I know from experience that they will probably want to do things their way. They will probably make mistakes of their own. (We certainly have.) And yet, I hope against hope, that our journey into debt and back again will be something that they remember and use to form their future financial choices.

T.Rowe Price recently posted the findings of their  2013 Parents, Kids and Money Survey. Their purpose was to understand the basic financial knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of both parents of children ages 8-14 and their children ages 8-14. You can read the results in their entirety here. I found some of these things fascinating.

When asked about their biggest financial regrets, 19% of parents said that it was taking on too much debt (Amen!) followed by saving too late, getting the wrong job, and spending too much. I get that on a number of levels.

I bet I’m not the only one who can look back through time and find more than a few things that I would change. Thankfully, there’s no better time than the present to make financial changes. And we can include our kids in those changes by teaching them about money matters and helping them navigate the world of finances in a healthy way.

You know I loved the best advice:

Living within one’s means was considered the most important advice parents can give to their kids. Yes, yes, yes! Our culture has been transformed into one that lives on borrowed money. That can’t last forever. So, we need to stop the cycle with ourselves and teach our kids a better way.

T.Rowe Price has launched the site, Money Confident Kids, to help parents and educators better understand their own finances as well as teach their kids a better way to look at money.

There’s a special section geared for kids as well as a Disney game called The Great Piggy Bank Adventure. FishBoy10 played it and earned over 17,000 truffles in his first try.

I think it’s true that most of us can get improve how we manage our time, how we eat, how we care for our bodies, and how we manage our money. I appreciate how the site offers education for adults as well as kids. There are so many great tips on the site, you could spend hours reading up on how to approach money talk with your kids.

So far we’ve done a few things to educate the FishKids about money:

1. We included them in our Get Out of Debt experience. They were great partners with us in saving money and willingly foregoing pleasures so that we could pay down our debts.

2. They earn a monthly allowance and are given the opportunity to practice money management.

3. As a family we’re saving for our trip to France. We’re about halfway to our goal right now which is good since we only have one year left until go-time.

I know that I have a long way to go, though, in preparing my kids. I’d love to hear what you do to teach your kids to be mindful of money.

How is your family raising “money confident kids”?

This is Frugal Friday. In an effort to make these weekly financial discussions more interactive, I’m no longer posting a link-up. Feel free to leave a link in the comments. But better yet, chat with us on today’s topic.

Disclosure: I have partnered with T.Rowe Price to write this post. Statistical data has been provided by T.Rowe Price. I have been compensated for my time spent writing. All opinions are my own.

Raising Kids to Be Mindful of Money (Frugal Friday) is a post from: Life As Mom. © Jessica Getskow Fisher - All rights reserved.

Chocolate Box of Money

Fun Photo Art

Lavender Milk Bath

Perk Up a Purse

Salt Dough Candle Holders

What are YOU giving for end of the year gifts this year?

Fun Gifts to Make Yourself is a post from: Life As Mom. © Jessica Getskow Fisher - All rights reserved.

As someone who tries to get the maximum bang for her buck and believes in “doing more with less” as a mom and an entrepreneur, organizing is one area where I am often tempted to just jump in and buy everything on display. Seriously.

However, luckily, better sense — or my husband Mayank — prevails, and I tend to look at how I can get organized and yet NOT buy yet another product to help me streamline that which I already own. Sounds familiar?

This post {a really long one!} is all about how I organize, streamline and keep clutter at bay by stretching my imagination and using Google.

Organizing on a Budget? And How to Know When to Spend

Seriously, we own too much stuff. All of us.

As folks who’ve been decluttering pretty much all this year, Mayank and I are amazed by how much we still own that is no longer needed or used. In the last few months, we’ve sold a baby bottle sterilizer {our daughter is 5 and has NEVER been on a bottle. Sigh!}, a tennis racquet that she’s outgrown, and an old cellphone. We’ve given away TONS of stuff, including 6 hand bags, SO many old clothes, books, a printer that didn’t work and was eating space for the last 12 months {!!}, and I am sure a lot more that I no longer remember.

Any way, the point of sharing all the ugly details of our decluttering is that we all own a lot of stuff and buying more products to organize all of that just doesn’t add up.

Having said that, I also realize that sometimes you do need things to neaten up the home and make it easier for you to manage your routines and lives.

How do you decide when to break open the wallet and when to hold tight?

You ask yourself:

• Can I use something that I already own to corral the clutter instead of buying this “organizing product”?
• Do I really need the stuff that I’m buying this organizer for?

For instance, do you really need 10 rolls of giftwrap, a pack of labels, 15 different ribbons? Unless you’re professionally gift wrapping things or have a VERY large family and social circle,  and a TON of gifting all year round, my guess is you don’t.

If you only keep 2-3 rolls of gift paper and a few ribbons handy in a drawer or basket, you don’t need to fork out a tidy amount for a giftwrap organizer.

Ask yourself these two questions and chances are you’ll end up NOT buying that organizing product. Ask me how I know that.

How to Get Organized Without Spending a Penny

Now that we know that organizing is more about streamlining and less about getting more “stuff”, let’s get down to brass tacks and learn how to get organized without spending a penny. That is right.

You may already own EVERYTHING you need to help you corral all those bits and bobs.

To start with, here are 10 organizing products and their homemade substitutes:

1. Meal Trays = Drawer Organizer

Here’s a look at my office desk drawer organized with a metal meal tray. If you don’t have one, you can easily use a simple plastic serving tray and add a few small bowls or muffin tins.

2. Cheese or Plastic Boxes = Drawer Organizer No.2

My second favorite go-to for drawer organizing is the small square plastic boxes I get when we buy blocks of cheese. I’ve used them in my daughter’s dressing table drawer to organize her hair accessories.

You can use just any plain plastic box, preferably square. Combine a few in a variety of sizes, tape them with double-sided tape to the bottom of the drawer and voila’ , instant no-cost drawer organizer.

3. Plates = Countertop Clutter Buster

I’ve used a couple of breakfast plates whose counterparts had long since been shattered to corral bathroom counter clutter.  You can do the same for the dining table and keep all those bottles of peanut butter, ketchup and jelly organized.

4. Ice Cube Trays = Jewelry Organizer

This is a cheap trick I’ve been using for years. I have a stack of 3 ice cube trays holding my junk jewelry earrings. Easy-to-see and absolutely free!

5. Glass Jars = Pens and Pencil Holders

I’m a HUGE fan of glass jars { and yes when we decluttered I gave away a ton of these as well!} and using them to hold pencils, crayons and pens is  a great way to NOT buy a pen holder. Here are 10 more ideas to reuse glass jars.

6. Shoe Boxes = Storage Boxes

I have covered shoeboxes in newspaper and leftover giftwrap and then used them for stationery storage as well as Christmas decorations storage. Covering them in paper is a fun craft activity that my daughter loves to do and getting nice, big storage boxes for free is my idea of fun!

7. Cloth Grocery Bags = Book Bags

The stores we go to often hand out cloth grocery bags if we forget to take our own. The spare cloth bags then become book bags or bags for holding garbage liners. See, you don’t need to buy a garbage bag dispenser.

8. Bowls and Baskets = Catch-Alls

Every time I have a spare bowl or basket, I look for ways to use it as a catch-all. On my daughter’s study table, it holds all the random stuff she collects – leaves, twigs, paper cuttings. You get the point. In the master bedroom, on the night stand, it is a handy place to keep the cellphones or some mints.

9. Hanger= Outfit Organizer

I was really drawn to a snazzy looking outfit organizer the other day and then I realized I can do the same with a bunch of hangers. Simply put my whole outfit together and hang it up.  I can do this for the whole week and every morning just reach out and pick out a hanger with an outfit all set.

If I wanted to go further, I’d label my hangers Monday through Sunday as well, but I guess that would be too much even for me.

10. Go Digital = Paper Management System

Finally, we’ve minimized our need for a file cabinet in our home office simply by going paperless as much as possible. Client contracts are signed via Echosign, documents are shared via Dropbox and not postal mail, most of our reading material for research and learning is on Kindle, receipts are managed via Shoeboxed. Yes, going paperless can be the best gift you can give yourself for getting organized on the cheap.

Check out these other ideas to help inspire you to keep up with organizing without spending a penny.

• No-Cost Cheap Hacks to Cut Clutter and Organize Chaos: Consider 5 go-to strategies for organizing on a shoestring budget.
• Make Things Do Double Duty: Learn more DIY, no-cost hacks for toy storage, bathroom storage and double duty décor.
• 30 {more!} No-Cost Organizing Hacks: Find out how to use egg cartons, tinned food cans and more to get organized.
• 13 Ways to Get Organized for the Year: Seriously, start now and have a stress-free rest of the year!
• How to Organize Just About Anything for Free: More goodness to help you streamline your life without spending a penny.

Learning As You Go

The best part about frugal organizing is that you can learn as you go. Each time I have an organizing dilemma, I turn to my trusty friend – Google and you can be sure that I have a bunch of ideas and tons of inspiration to help me save a buck and get organized as well.

What do YOU find the toughest to organize when on a budget?

Share with me in the comments!

– Prerna Malik is a mom, a wife, a writer and woman who believes in parenting with love, being postively productive, and creating a home that invites you to put your feet up and relax. Check out her free eBooks on organizing and productivity to get literally, hundreds of ideas on how to get organized on a shoestring budget, right now.

The Ultimate Guide to Getting Organized on a Budget is a post from: Life As Mom. © Jessica Getskow Fisher - All rights reserved.

Last night we took the kids to Pizza Port and then walked along the beach. It was a blazing hot day here, so it was really nice to cool off at the beach. Though they were fully dressed, FishBoys 8 and 10 had an absolute blast bodysurfing.

It prompted me to ask WHY?!?! don’t  we do this more often?

DIYon a Dime: Summer Fun

My summer’s resolution is to make more time for fun and relaxation. So, I’m making plans and schemes for doing things with my kids during our summer vacation. My neighbor and I are working out a schedule for outings with all the kids.

Stay tuned! In the next few weeks I’ll be sharing all kinds of free printables, checklists, how-tos, and tutorials for inexpensive summer fun with your peeps.

I’ll be updating this post with all the resource links, so be sure to bookmark or pin and come back often.

PS. Don’t forget to buy your copies of Summer Survival Guide and Fifty Book to Enjoy with Kids. This week they are only $5 each. They will serve you well this summer.

DIY on a Dime: Summer Fun is a post from: Life As Mom. © Jessica Getskow Fisher - All rights reserved.

This week only, all the main books available in the Life as MOM estore will be available for only $5. This pricing will go through next Sunday night, barring any technological difficulties.

5 years of blogging = 5 Dolla’ Ebooks

PS I moved servers over the weekend, so if you are clicking over from a reader or an email, and you don’t see the $5 pricing in the estore, you may need to clear your browser’s cache to see the site on the new server. (Your computer may remember the old server and needs to be reminded that we’ve moved.)

Super Sale This Week Only is a post from: Life As Mom. © Jessica Getskow Fisher - All rights reserved.

It probably seems silly to commemorate a blogging anniversary. I doubt it will be a yearly thing, but hey, any excuse for a party, right?

I just want to take a minute and say thanks. This space has given me so much over the years. While we’ve been fighting our way out of debt, to having a six baby, moving across country, saying goodbye to Gramma Ruthie, homeschooling, writing a cookbook, and all the things in between, y’all have been a source of sweet encouragement to me and my family.

Thank you!

I hope that you are finding honesty and practical help here. I hope that the things that I or my contributors share are accessible and helpful to your “life as MOM.” I’m convinced that we can’t do this job on our own.

We gotta stick together, friends.

Meanwhile, here’s what’s been happening on Life as MOM:

• Loving the Woman Who Wants to Be a Mom
• Weekly Meal Plan to Print & Cook #11
• Introducing the Life as MOM Monthly Newsletter
• Tackling the Living Areas (Zone Defense)
• From Pea to Pumpkin – Baby Gift Pack Giveaway (ends Sunday night!)
• It’s Time to Get Outside
• A Giveaway from CVS (ends Sunday night!)
• My Mother’s Day Plans
• Simple Hamburger Spice (Ultimate Recipe Swap: BBQ)
• 5 Quick Ways to Save Money (Frugal Friday)
• A Giveaway from ME

Coming next week:

• another printable meal plan with grocery list
• Kitchen Jobs that Kids Can Do
• What to Make with the Produce Box
• DIY on a Dime: Summer Fun
• The Ultimate Guide to Getting Organized on a Budget

Be sure to let me know what stories and articles are helpful to you and what you’d like to see more of in the coming weeks. I want to make your “life as MOM” as fun and as easy as possible.

Have a lovely Mother’s Day!

If I’m quiet this week, it’s because I’ve got a few server issues that we’re working out behind the scenes. Thanks for your patience.

Happy Birthday to Us (& the Week in Review) is a post from: Life As Mom. © Jessica Getskow Fisher - All rights reserved.

I always dreamed of being a writer. Starting in elementary school I would pen stories, hoping they’d be interesting enough to read. by someone.

I wrote, through high school, college, teaching, and into motherhood. Usually I had a pretty small audience: me, and maybe my mom.

About seven years ago I started writing articles for parenting publications. That was a pretty wild thing. I actually got paid for something I wrote! Today I’ve had the opportunity to write for a variety of media: magazines, websites, and books. Cool!

I’m well aware that I couldn’t have done it without an audience, folks who were interested to read what I had to say. You all have been wildly supportive of all my little schemes and dreams.

Thank you, dear reader. And Mom, thank you, too!

The FishMama Ebook Collection

Today’s giveaway is the entire ebook collection that is currently in the FishMama shop. That would include:

Organizing Life as MOM

198 pages of inspiration and planning pages to help you get your act together. Includes 130 printable planning worksheets and calendar pages. This is the ultimate How-To when it comes to creating a household planner that fits YOU and your family.

I wrote this book as much for me as for you. It helps me keep my head in the game.

A 200+ page ebook full of summertime inspiration for planning family fun. Includes 38 printable and/or customizable pages as well as ideas for home management, meal planning, emergency preparedness, family fun, and more.

This book is the culmination of many a hot summer, trying to keep my kids happy and my mind intact.

Fifty Books to Enjoy with Kids

This reading guide, prepared by my mother, Veronica Getskow, PhD, and edited by my sister and I, lists 50 must-reads for young children as well as accompanying extension activities, discussion topics, and other family fun to coordinate with the books.

If you’re not sure how to entertain the littles, this book is for you.

A guide to planning the winter holidays, A Simpler Season provides creative ideas , time-saving tips, and budget-minded inspiration for making the most of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s.

It’s hard to think about the holidays now, but in a few months, you’ll be really glad that you gave some thought to advance planning.

Win the whole collection

Ten winners will win a copy of each ebook in the collection for his or her personal use.

To Enter:

Simply complete the information on this form. Please know that the information is only being gathered for the purposes of mailing you your prize in the event that you are chosen as the winner. This information will not be sold, traded, or given away.

This promotion is open until Sunday, May 12, 2013, at 8 pm PST and is limited to US residents, 18 years or older. Friends and family of Jessica Fisher and Life as MOM are ineligible for entry. Please enter only once. The winner(s) will be chosen randomly. The prize for this promotion is provided by and shipped by me, myself, and I. This post will be updated with the beginning of the winner’s email address.

A Giveaway from Me is a post from: Life As Mom. © Jessica Getskow Fisher - All rights reserved.

Sometimes people mistakenly believe that saving money takes too much effort. It can be hard work. It can be challenging to maintain money-saving stamina.

But, it can also go a long way to helping you stretch your budget, pay down debt, save for the future, and make it through an economic crisis.

Here are 5 relatively quick and painless ways to save money:

1. Eat at home.

Eating your meals at home, brewing your own coffee, and otherwise avoiding take-out and restaurants is a sure-fire way to save some cash. Unless you’ve got FREE coupons, eating out will cost more money than cooking the same food at home. And it doesn’t have to be complicated!

Check out these posts for inspiration:

• 8 Ways to Avoid Eating Out
• 12 Easy Meals to Make when There’s “Nothing” to Eat
• Eat Real Food: 10 Easy, No-Cook Suppers

2. Use the library.

Last night I was reading a friend’s review of a book to my husband. He thought it sounded interesting. Rather than pay big bucks to buy the book that we may or may not like, I checked the library. In a few clicks I was able to locate the book, “borrow” the digital version from our local library, and download it to our Kindle.

Free information in an instant!

Check out what your library offers; there may be more choices and resources than you thought imaginable. They’re not technically “free”; your tax dollars pay for it. But, you won’t be out any cash provided you return the item in time.

3. Shop your closet.

Feeling blah about your clothes? Think a little retail therapy will cure what ails you. Consider doing a closet clean out instead. You might find things that you forgot you had as well as find new inspiration for how to put things together.

Do a little scrolling on pinterest to see what catches your eye. You might be able to recreate the looks you like based on items you already own!

4. Turn off the lights.

Last summer we participated in SDGE’s program to reduce our use. Being mindful of what devices were plugged in and running — and then unplugging them when not in use — made a big difference in our energy usage.

So, go through your house on a regular basis and unplug what’s not being used. If you can, install timers in rooms that have a lot of in and out traffic. Use fewer light bulbs in rooms that don’t need the extra light.

Electricity is one of those silent and invisible expenses. It’s hard to track, but the price can certainly add up.

5. Borrow it.

If you don’t need something long term or aren’t sure that you’ll use it to make it worth it, then borrow or rent the item. A friend’s son needed a special shirt for a school presentation. Rather than go out and buy one, she posted a call to borrow on Facebook.

Need special shoes for a wedding? Ask your friends to see if someone has a pair languishing in a closet. Think you want to become a connoisseur of homemade ice cream? Borrow a friend’s machine before you plunk down the cash to buy one, not sure that you’ll actually use it.

A drop of water doesn’t seem like much, but a steady stream of drops can fill a mighty bucket. Likewise, little ways to save money will help you get to your financial goal.

This is Frugal Friday. In an effort to make these weekly financial discussions more interactive, I’m no longer posting a link-up. Feel free to leave a link in the comments. But better yet, chat with us on today’s topic.

What are some easy ways that YOU save money?

5 Quick Ways to Save Money (Frugal Friday) is a post from: Life As Mom. © Jessica Getskow Fisher - All rights reserved.

One of my family’s favorite meals to BBQ is hamburgers. It’s so unbelievably good; I don’t know why I don’t do it more often.

Probably because good quality ground beef is expensive!

Since that whole pink slime debacle, I’ve been a little more careful about what beef I buy. This means I pay a slightly higher price than I use to. That means we don’t have burgers too often.

But, they sure do love it.

Years ago, I started making my own hamburger buns because it was cheaper and tastier than buying storebought. While the kids will certainly eat any old bun, they love the homemade ones and so do I. There really is no better.

And if you make them in fancy shapes, well, so much the better.

I ran out of sesame seeds, but obviously, you can get all fancy. I brushed the rolls with half and half before baking which gave them a lovely finish.

Often I do something really simple like seasoning the burgers with salt and pepper. I’ve also stuffed the meat mixture with chopped greens that my kids devoured, like these Popeye Burgers. Last week I mixed up a spice blend that I coated the burgers with. Everyone loved it. FishBoy10 raved quite enthusiastically about them; he’s ready for Food Network the way he talks about food.

This seasoning is a cheap and easy way for you to bring flavor to your burgers. Store any leftover spice blend in the cupboard to use on  other meats.

Recipe: Simple Hamburger Spice

Summary: Makes enough for 12 burgers

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Instructions

1. In a small mixing bowl, combine the seasonings.
2. Coat hamburger patties generously prior to grilling.
3. Store leftover spice mix in a closed container.

Preparation time: 5 minute(s)

URS Guidelines

Remember: Each month at Ultimate Recipe Swap, there is a posted theme. You are welcome to share any recipe that fits the theme and contains a link back to Life as MOM. If you’re curious about the upcoming themes, I have a calendar here. This month’s theme is BBQ.

If you have a recipe that fits the theme, please link it. However, things like Beef Strogonoff will be deleted from Chicken week because it doesn’t contain chicken. Please keep this meme as helpful to others as we can.

And don’t make me the bad guy! 

What is a BBQ favorite at your house?

Simple Hamburger Spice (Ultimate Recipe Swap:BBQ) is a post from: Life As Mom. © Jessica Getskow Fisher - All rights reserved.

I’ve got pretty simple hopes for the upcoming Mother’s Day weekend. I want to sleep in, eat all my favorite foods, and lose myself in a good book. A bubble bath wouldn’t be too bad, either.

And maybe a slice of chocolate cheesecake.

Watching a chick flick would take it over the top, especially if my people watched it with me which they did a few weeks ago when I was sick and watched Keira Knightley’s Pride and Prejudice.

I’m hoping that those things are part of the mix. I’m looking forward to a simple day, and so I’m making plans:

1. To focus on loving my family.

Last time I checked, my kids and husband are the ones who made me a mom. I am so grateful for their presence in my life.

I don’t want to get so caught up in what I think I deserve that I forget why I’m here. I’m not talking about sacrificing myself or reaching burnout, but simply keeping things in perspective. If I dwell on things too much, I can ruin the reality of the experience.

The first year I was a mom — I was pregnant, actually, with the baby due a month later — I behaved horribly, putting all kinds of demands on my husband, hinting and not so much hinting about what I wanted and expected from him. I was very selfish in those early years, so fearful that I would be forgotten or that folks wouldn’t make as much out of me as I thought they should.

I hope that I’ve grown up a little.

2. To give myself a break.

This year as April turned into May, I found that I was really, really excited for this month to begin. As I thought about the FishMama Trifecta, I realized that my enthusiasm was that those three days are the days when I’m not really required to do much.

I “get to be lazy” on my birthday, my anniversary, and Mother’s Day. I get to indulge in those things (sleeping in, favorite foods, book reading bubble baths, cheesecake) that I might not allow myself otherwise because there are other more practical things to be done.

I’m going to try to get my work out of the way early in the week (chores, writing, lesson planning) so that I really can have a rest on Sunday and enjoy whatever the kids end up planning.

3. To be realistic.

There is no such thing as a perfect day. Messes will be made. Kids will squabble. I will lose my patience. Those are all par for the course.

If I expect a “perfect day”, I will be disappointed. And really, Mother’s Day was invented by a greeting card company. Oh, sure, Abe Lincoln gets some credit, but really, shouldn’t we tell our moms we appreciate them a little more often than once a year? (Hi Mom!)

4. To eat well.

I’m not afraid to take the bull by the horns when it comes to good eats. I’ve got my meal planned. It’s one that we all love: Steak, Potatoes, Salad, Baguette, and Cheese. Oh, and some chocolate cheesecake.

I’m not hesitant to shop for the stuff, though I am happy to let someone else do the cooking.

5. To give thanks.

It doesn’t take but a glimpse at pictures of my eldest when he was little to get a jolting reality check. The time is a-passing! A dozen or so years ago, I didn’t know if we could have more kids. Now we have a veritable half dozen. I am indeed thankful that God has blessed me so richly. I hope I never take it for granted.

I think simple is always better. Simple food, simple plans, simple expectations. You can’t go wrong that way.

Have you got big plans for Mother’s Day?

My Mother’s Day Plans is a post from: Life As Mom. © Jessica Getskow Fisher - All rights reserved.